One reason
by Talespinner69
Summary: Sure, there's only one reason why messing with any of the Loud sisters is a poor move. But it's a VERY good reason. (Sequel to 'Ten reasons') (Rating subject to change)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter one: Literally Siblings part one- Twelve and Eighteen

Lincoln Loud woke up on a pleasant enough morning one day in his hometown of Royal Woods, Michigan. The sole Loud boy was feeling particularly good about today. And no, it was not because the Santiagos, who are close friends with the Louds, recently moved back to Royal Woods from Great Lakes City, even bringing their extended relatives the Casagrandes with them, although to be honest that did play a small but noticeable role. The reason for the white-haired boy's good feeling was something else.

Today is his twelfth birthday.

As he got up from his bed, Lincoln stretched a bit while pondering what today would have in store for him. Knowing his family, there would undoubtedly be some big celebration to ring in Lincoln's age reaching the big one-two. Lincoln's various sisters in particular would go all out in trying to make today a day that he wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon. After he was done stretching, Lincoln turned to see the long-ways mirror that hung on his door, allowing him to get a look at the whole of himself.

He had the same fair skin and white hair that he's always had, although due to recent events, the sole Loud boy had dropped his habit of sleeping in his underwear in favor of wearing a pair of orange sweatpants, plus a pair of socks on his feet, while rounding out the sleep ensemble with a somewhat baggy orange t-shirt (not one of his usual orange polo shirts). For a moment, Lincoln was confused about why he was wearing such an outfit. However, taking a step forward and feeling a pain in his left leg reminded Lincoln about why he was covering up so much.

…Yet another reason why Lincoln's sisters would probably be wanting to go all out for their only brother today.

Although the memory of that day still haunted Lincoln, he was moving past it, or at the very least starting to. With a shrug, Lincoln opened his bedroom door to step outside. However, he didn't get even one step out before he was blindsided by Lisa, Lola and Lana, three of his younger sisters.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINCOLN!" the twins Lola and Lana exclaimed in unison; while both of the six-year-olds looked happy and excited, Lisa retained her usual dry expression. In fact, the four-year-old genius seemed to be a bit annoyed with the twins.

Turning to face her older sisters, Lisa remarked, "While I too am happy that our older brother has his birthday today, did the two of you have to drag me out of bed just to wait outside his bedroom door so we could surprise him like this? I'm pretty sure it could have waited until breakfast at the very least."

"Pfft," Lana said as she waved a hand at Lisa in a dismissive manner, "You have no idea how to have fun, Lisa."

"Yeah, today's Lincoln's birthday!" Lola stated, "We got to go big today! Especially considering how we failed to go as big as we wanted to go when Lori turned eighteen a few weeks ago."

"That was when she became an official adult according to mom and dad," Lana remarked to Lisa, "Failing to properly celebrate something like that means that we have to go all out even harder to make up for-"

The mechanically inclined twin found herself cut off when Lincoln cleared his throat a bit loudly, clearly on purpose in order to get all eyes on him. When the twins and Lisa all turned their heads to regard him, they saw that Lincoln had a mildly amused expression, one that showed that he sincerely appreciated what the young girls were doing.

"Girls," Lincoln began, "I appreciate all of the trouble you three went through to surprise me like this, considering what today is. Really, it's a very nice gesture." Gesturing to Lisa, Lincoln continued, "But Lisa has a point. It's a bit early in the morning for all of this excitement, and you girls are kind of keeping me from heading to the bathroom."

The twins mumbled some apologies as they and Lisa stepped to the side; the look on Lisa's face suggested that the little genius was very much strongly resisting the urge to say 'I told you so' to her older sisters. With the way cleared for him, Lincoln proceeded to head down towards the end of the hallway, so that he could use the bathroom.

Yeah, today was going to be great. Lincoln could just tell.

* * *

After having used the bathroom and making his way down stairs, Lincoln made a turn to head into the dining room. When he did, Lincoln saw that waiting for him there were Lori and Leni, two of his older sisters. With the two oldest Loud girls were Bobby Santiago and Aggro Ace, the respective boyfriends of Lori and Leni. Similar to Lori, both boys were also eighteen; as such, they were, legally speaking, both adults.

"Don't worry, Boo-Boo Bear," Lori said to Bobby while gesturing to Leni and Aggro, "They started dating when he was seventeen. Besides, it's literally not too much a difference to be worried about, and I highly doubt that anyone's seriously going to try to bother them about it."

"That's not what I'm worried about, babe," Bobby replied. With a resigned sigh, Bobby explained, "I'm worried about my education after high school. The main reason why me becoming a student at the university that my Uncle Carlos taught at was an option was _because_ my Uncle Carlos taught at it." With a gentle shake of his head, Bobby continued, "But after…after what happened during the riots in Great Lakes City, my ability to get into that university was pretty much shot down."

The oldest Loud sister looked down to her right, the somber look on her face a clear sign that she realized that she had just scraped against a subject that was a rather sore one for her Boo-Boo Bear. Sighing, Lori looked back up at Bobby. "…Boo-Boo Bear, I'm…" Lori began in a mildly somber tone, "…I'm literally sorry."

With a sigh, Bobby said, "It's no biggie, Lori. I can always look around for more options."

"I, like, have an idea," Leni piped up, getting both Lori and Bobby to turn to face her, "Why not give the local community college here in Royal Woods a try? Aggro said that he and his twin sister were planning to go there after graduation at Royal Woods High."

"Leni-chan's right," Aggro remarked, "Not only is it nearby, but it's also a rather affordable option." Facing the others at the table as a whole, the male Ace twin added with a hint of knowing in his tone, "Given that my mom has a total of eight kids, counting myself, that will be going to college at various points, she's got to do what she can so all of us can get post K through twelve education, so if that means having to do things on a budget, then Mmm?" Aggro stopped midsentence, confusing Lori, Leni and Bobby. The reason why Aggro stopped was because he spotted Lincoln standing in the open doorway to the dining room.

With a casual yet friendly expression, Aggro said, "Good morning, Lincoln-kun. I apologize if Bobby and I talking with your sisters woke you up." At once, Lori, Leni and Bobby all turned to face the direction Aggro was facing, and as such, they all saw Lincoln.

"Good morning, Linky!" Leni said in a happy, enthusiastic tone, "Happy birthday!"

Stifling a yawn, Lincoln said, "Good morning to you too, Leni. And thanks."

"So bro," Bobby began, "Lori tells me you're turning twelve. That's a pretty ballin' age, dude." Turning around, Bobby picked up a wrapped gift, then he turned back around and tossed the gift to Lincoln. "This is for you, dude," Bobby remarked, "Happy birthday."

Lincoln went a bit wide-eyed in response to catching the gift that Bobby had tossed to him; judging by the shape, weight and general size of the wrapped gift, it had to be a Playtendo Swap, with a game case for a Playtendo Swap game laying on top. Sure enough, that's what the gift ended up being; the game that came with the Playtendo Swap was a copy of The Ancient Tomes five: Skyrule.

When Lincoln looked up at him, Bobby gave the sole Loud boy a double thumbs-up. "Happy birthday, bro," Bobby said.

"…Umm, Boo-Boo Bear," Lori began as she saw what game that Bobby got for Lincoln, "Isn't that game rated M for mature? Lincoln is turning twelve today, not seventeen."

Placing a hand on Lori's shoulder, Bobby replied in a casual, reassuring tone, "Babe, relax, this is nothing to worry about. Besides, those ratings haven't stopped eight-year-olds from calling men in their mid-twenties various degrading names over live chat in M-rated FPS games."

Nodding once in agreement with Bobby, Aggro remarked, "Besides, Lori, I've let Lincoln watch various animes with me that kids his age really shouldn't have any business watching, with that one featuring a dragon as a maid being a prime example. I've also been letting him watch the new anime featuring zombie idol girls with me. Oh! Before I forget." Aggro reached over to his side and picked something up. Getting up from his seat, the male Ace twin walked over to Lincoln and handed him a cloth carrying case that clearly held a bokken; it was very similar to the one Aggro used to carry around his own bokken.

Handing the case to Lincoln, Aggro said, "I got this is for you. Happy birthday, Lincoln-kun." Curious, Lincoln opened the one end of the bokken carrying case and reached inside. Grabbing ahold of something, Lincoln pulled it out, revealing a bokken that was about an inch shorter than Morning Sun, Aggro's personal bokken. This new bokken that Lincoln held, despite being very slightly shorter than Aggro's bokken, was still just as thick; the new bokken was a whitish wood color, and the faux leather wrapping around the end that served as the hilt had blue threading as opposed to the red threading on Morning Sun's hilt.

"I know you don't have your own bokken, as you've always borrowed one of the basic white wood bokkens that I keep in the storage shed whenever I tutored you in Kendo," Aggro said, "So I figured that I'd go about looking for a proper one to get for you."

"Wow, Aggro," Leni remarked, "That sword you got for Linky looks really nice!"

"Like I said, I wanted to make sure that I got him a quality bokken, as opposed to one like the basic ones he used when I tutored him," the male Ace twin remarked. Turning to face Lincoln, Aggro continued, "I know this goes without saying, Lincoln-kun, but you ought to be careful with that."

Nodding a few times in agreement, Leni said, "He's totes right, Linky. It would be bad, say, if you struck Lynn with your wooden blade."

"PFFT!" Bobby snorted suddenly and loudly, clearly trying to keep himself from bursting out with laughter.

As Lori proceeded to try and help her boyfriend settle down while Aggro looked on at Bobby in confusion, Lincoln slipped his new bokken back into the carrying case it came in before he looked up to regard his fashionable older sister. "Leni, there's no need to worry about that," the sole Loud boy began, "No matter how badly my temper's been lost, I would never go so far as to hit one of you girls with a blunt instrument."

Sighing in relief, Leni said, "Well thank goodness for that. It would be, like, really heartbreaking to hear if you struck me or one of our sisters with your wooden blade." After Leni finished speaking, the proverbial dam of Bobby struggling not to burst out laughing broke, resulting in the Hispanic young adult falling out of his chair laughing. Turning to face where Bobby was laying on the floor, Leni said with a confused look on her face, "I don't get it."

"Me neither, Leni," Lori remarked to her younger sister before she (Lori) and Aggro proceeded to try to help the laughing Bobby back up onto his feet.

* * *

Bianca and Sooyoung were talking to each other as they got lunch together over at the local Burpin' Burger in Royal Woods. "Hey Sooyoung, did you hear?" Bianca asked her black-haired friend, "Lori and Carol are now hanging out with some new girl named Carlota."

"Oh yeah, I know who you're talking about," Sooyoung replied after wiping a bit of stray ketchup from her lip with a napkin, "I saw Carlota talking to Bobby Santiago, whose family recently moved back to Royal Woods."

"I heard that Carlota is Bobby's cousin," Bianca remarked, gently tucking some of her long brown hair that had fallen in front of her face back behind her right ear.

Nodding a bit in understanding, Sooyoung said, "That makes sense. They're both Mexican, aren't they?"

"I don't think that's entirely correct," Bianca began to say, "After all, Allison and her brother Aggro are twin siblings, yet they can't be more different from-" the fair-skinned girl with brown hair was cut off midsentence when her smartphone, which laid on the table next to her tray, went off. Picking it up, Bianca checked to see what it was, but she snorted in disgust. "Uhhg, I cannot believe this," Bianca said, her tone making it clear that what she was seeing was not something that she was all happy with.

Sooyoung, with a curious look on her face, said, "What's up, girl?" In response, Bianca turned her smartphone around so that she could show her BFF what was on the screen; it was a selfie that Lori Loud took of some birthday celebration. The two girls at Burpin' Burger identified Lori right away as the blonde girl on the selfie's far left; squeezed into the selfie were Lori's sister Leni, Bobby Santiago, Aggro Ace and some short white-haired boy who neither Sooyoung or Bianca were familiar with.

"Lori just posted this selfie, and it's already broken our best records when it comes to getting likes," Bianca remarked, clearly sounding annoyed, "And it been up for less than an hour!"

With the look on her face one of annoyance mixed with a dash of confusion, Sooyoung replied, "Are you for real?" Leaning somewhat closer, Sooyoung took a good, quick look at the count of 'likes' that Lori's latest selfie got. Seeing the number, Sooyoung snorted in a disgusted tone that was similar to the one that Bianca had earlier used.

Gesturing to her BFF's phone, Sooyoung said, "You're right, Bianca. This is so stupid that I'm calling shenanigans on this one."

"Totally," Bianca agreed, "This is total bull crap." Leaning back in her seat, Bianca continued, "How can some stupid, random birthday selfie beat everything that the two of us have worked so hard on?"

"And things were going pretty swimmingly for the two of us," Sooyoung commented to her bestie, "But things started going downhill when Lori and Carol joined forces." With a gentle shake of her head, Sooyoung added, "I still can't believe that those two, of all people, are now getting along like the best of friends. Weren't the two of them supposed to be, like, enemies, or something like that?"

With a gentle shake of her head, Bianca replied, "That's beside the point, which is the fact that the two of us need to get back our position as people with the selfie that has the most likes." Leaning forward slightly, Bianca added with a hint of malicious mischievousness in her tone, "And I've got just the idea on how to do it." Sooyoung, curious about what Bianca was talking about, leaned closer as well, all too eager to hear what the girl with brown hair had to say.

* * *

Later, Lincoln was talking on the phone with Clyde McBride, his closest friend; the nerdy African American boy was unable to come over to the Loud residence this day on the grounds that he and his dads were visiting one of Clyde's grandmothers out of town. However, the McBrides would be able to stop by in the evening to wish Lincoln a happy birthday, and Clyde said that his dads were even planning to get the sole Loud boy a nice gift. Even so, the two boys were able to have a bit of a conversation over the phone.

"Wait a minute," Lincoln said in a mildly shocked tone, "You think _that_'_s_ the reason why Bobby was laughing his butt off earlier?"

"It makes sense to me," Clyde replied from the other end, "Although I probably wouldn't have figured it out if it wasn't for you mentioning that your sister Leni kept referring to your new bokken as a 'wooden blade'." With a sigh, Clyde added, "You'd be surprised by some of the humor books that my shorter dad keeps and likes to read. But enough about that business." With a hint of enthusiasm in his tone, Clyde said, "So, you got a Playtendo Swap now?"

"Yeah," Lincoln began to explain, "Bobby got it for me. He also got me a copy of the Skyrule port for the Swap."

"Ooh, you got Skyrule?" Clyde asked, his tone clearly conveying piqued interest, "What kind of build are you going to go for? You planning on being one of those big barbarian guys, or maybe a mage who solves everything by hurling fire and lightning at his problems?"

After giving it a bit of contemplation, the white haired boy replied, "Actually, I was going to try to look into doing a stealthy killer build."

"Oh, a thief-assassin?" Clyde replied in a casual tone, "That's a good build as well. I recommend that you pick either Locubi or Otakian as your character's race in that case. Probably Locubi, given the bonuses that race gets to stealth."

Lincoln was finding himself glad to be having this talk with his best friend. It had been a while since the two boys had any sort of real conversation, just talking about the things that they liked, without any sort of specter of tragedy looming over them. Speaking of tragedy, the injury to Lincoln's left leg, although it not only was far from healed but would most likely stay that way, was beginning to register to Lincoln's feelings as nothing more than a dull throb that only really bothered him if he really worked that leg out, or stood up for long periods of time, or that leg was specifically hit by an outside force. Thinking that with all things considered this was as good as his life was going to get from this point moving forward, Lincoln felt as if there was nothing that could possible ruin-

*SLAM*

*STOMP STOMP STOMP*

"MY LIFE IS LITERALLY OFFICIALLY OVER!"

Having heard his oldest sister scream out like that, and in a clear tone of anguish that was accompanied by some clearly upset crying, Lincoln briefly returned his attention to his phone. "…Umm, Clyde?" Lincoln began, "I'm going to have to call you back."

"Yeah, I heard Lori just now," the nerdy boy replied in a concerned tone, "Give her my regards, alright?" Lincoln and Clyde said good-bye before the former ended the call and slipped his phone into the pocket of the orange sweatpants he was wearing before he got up off of the chair at the dining room table that he was sitting in.

Lincoln headed out into the living room, where he saw Bobby (who apparently followed Lori inside) trying to comfort the oldest Loud girl while Ronnie Anne (who must have tagged along because reasons) stood by. "Babe, there is nothing to worry about," Bobby said in as reassuringly of a tone as he could manage, "It's clear that those photos were fake, and when people-"

"Thanks, Boo-Boo Bear," Lori replied, interrupting Bobby in the process, "But because of whoever posted those photos, even though those photos are fake, the damage to my rep has already been done! I literally can't show my face in public again!"

Giving the older girl a 'really?' kind of look, Ronnie Anne said as she looked up at Lori, "You cannot be serious. How can clearly doctored photos ruin anything to such a degree? You'd have to be a complete and total moron to fall for photos that are clearly faked."

Turning to face his little sister, Bobby began to explain, "Things aren't so simple like that, Nie-Nie. Lori's got a point about how those photos that were posted could ruin her rep here in Royal Woods, if only because of what said photos are implying." With a firm nod that showed that he wasn't being fooled, Bobby continued, "At least Lori has the two of us to fall back on. And I have no doubt that Lori's friends like Carol and Trixie will be wanting to track down the people who posted those photos of Lori. Hell, I bet that Carlota will want to help out here too."

With a shrug, Ronnie Anne half asked half suggested, "Why not throw in Astrid's oldest sister? Isn't she friends with Lori as well?"

"Allison…" Bobby began, a hint of mild uncertainty in his tone, "…May go berserk on the people responsible if they're found." Bobby then had an involuntary shudder, as he had imagined the female Ace twin doing…something…that would make the Vikings of her Swedish heritage proud, all in retaliation for what the person(s) responsible for embarrassing Lori did. Pointing to his little sister in a commending manner, Bobby added, "But you raise an excellent point."

"Umm…" Lincoln called out, getting everyone's attention aside from Lori, who simply ran up the stairs crying. "Did…" Lincoln began slowly, trepidation clear in the sole Loud boy's tone, "…Did something bad happen?"

With a sigh, Bobby said with a troubled look on his face, "Yeah, bro. There was this really nasty posting on social media that had a mean spirited caption under an obviously faked photo of Lori that was…well…let's just say it wasn't exactly flattering."

"That's…" Lincoln began, his tone sounding like some wind had been knocked out of his sails by the news, "…Not how I'd imagine the beginning of Lori's life as a legal adult would go." Looking up to Bobby, Lincoln asked, "I don't that suppose you or anyone that you know might have an idea on who it was that made that post?"

"Well it would have to be someone who's familiar enough with your older sister to know how to make the specific caption that went along with the photo," Ronnie Anne began as she spoke to Lincoln, getting him and Bobby to turn to regard her, "So anyone outside of Royal Woods can't be a culprit. It will also have to be someone who is not fond of Lori in the least, and knows how to use Photoshop well enough to make the doctored photo. That eliminates all of Lori's friends as they all like her."

"It's probably someone who hates Lori," Bobby concluded, "At least enough to do something like what happened as an act of revenge."

Turing to regard Bobby, Lincoln asked with a curious look on his face, "An act of revenge?"

With a shrug, Bobby replied, "That's what this whole mess is coming off to me as. It doesn't seem like anything wrought from a war or escalating selfies, like what Lori told me she and Carol had before they became besties. Oh, and before you or Nie-Nie suggests it…" Stopping midsentence, Bobby took out his smartphone, turned it on, and accessed a social media forum where he scrolled through a few things before he stopped on something. Turning his phone around to show a photo of Carol's head photoshopped over the head of a sumo wrestler, Bobby said, "This was posted alongside the pic of Lori."

"…Whoever made this photo really IS an idiot!" Ronnie Anne exclaimed, "Don't they know that traditional sumo is a boys' only affair?"

"I think you're missing the point, Ronnie Anne," Lincoln remarked, a hint of dryness in his tone, "The point is that someone's going out of their way to screw with Lori and her friends." With a resigned sigh, the sole Loud boy added, "I just wish that I knew who it was, and how I could get them ratted out and brought to justice for what they're putting Lori through."

Nodding a few times in a commending manner, Bobby said to the younger boy, "You and me both, bro. You and me both." Seeing as how Lori was clearly too upset to be dealt with right now, Bobby decided to take his leave, asking Lincoln to tell Lori that he'll come back if she wants him to. Bobby also asked Ronnie Anne if she wanted to stay, but she replied that she was getting a little peckish, so the Santiago siblings decided to head home for dinner.

This left Lincoln alone, allowing him to ruminate on how Lori's social life had just taken such a serious, crippling blow, and so soon after having reached legal adult age. The sole Loud boy felt that he had to look into this matter, and hopefully try to resolve it, in order to get Lori's social life back in shape.

Lincoln celebrating his twelfth birthday can wait; he had a sister who needed his help.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER ONE

Author's notes:

And here it is, the first chapter of my second multi-arc Loud House story. In case you were wondering, yes, this is inspired by, and is a semi-direct sequel* to, my previous story 'Ten reasons'. However, whereas the arcs of 'Ten reasons' each featured a different sister doing something to avenge some wrong done to Lincoln, the arcs in _this_ story will all feature Lincoln doing something to avenge some wrong done to a different sister.

To put any worries at ease, relax; Lincoln will not do anything extreme like what his sisters did in their spotlight. He will aim to make his acts of revenge as proportional to the crime that he's avenging as possible. Also, keep in mind that the events of 'Ten reasons' happened prior to this story, which means that Lincoln still has a bum leg; because of that, he can't do anything 'extreme', and he's going to have to rely on a mix of guile and subterfuge in order to carry out his plans, as opposed to anything requiring notable physical effort.

…I should also probably establish a proper timeline of all of the work in the 'official' Loud House story setting that I use, shouldn't I? I may post it in my profile, as I wouldn't have to re-upload/edit a specific chapter in order to update any changes to said timeline. Some of you who are not aware of the details may find yourselves surprised.

*(The reason that I say semi-direct is because the 11th, 12th and 13th stories in the Loud House one-shot collection are set between the end of Ten reasons and the beginning of One reason. Still, the two stories are very much connected.)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter two: Literally Siblings part two- Photo fakers

The previous day had not been kind to Lincoln Loud, even though he turned twelve years of age. After all, because of some mean-spirited and clearly faked photos of his oldest sister Lori that were posted to social media were making some rather unfortunate implications, the oldest Loud girl's social life had been effectively killed. There was no way that Lincoln feel that he could go on and continue to enjoy his birthday; Lori was suffering, and that's what concerned Lincoln.

"Yeah, I saw the photo of Lori on social media," Astrid Ace, a girl who is friends with Lincoln's (more than a) friend Ronnie Anne, said to the sole Loud boy as they had a video chat session; the aforementioned Ronnie Anne, who was visiting the Ace residence to see Astrid while Bobby was doing 'boy stuff' with Astrid's brother Aggro, was sitting next to her bestie. With a resigned and troubled sigh, Astrid remarked to Lincoln, "I still can't believe that someone would go so far as to pull a stunt like making that post about your sister on a social media site."

"Bobby says that he wants to be there if and when the person or persons responsible are found out," Ronnie Anne remarked, "And if I have the implication of Bobby's words right, then I want to be there for the show. I'll also probably bring along a poncho, in case the first few rows are a splash zone."

With a mildly worried look, Astrid turned to face Ronnie Anne and said, "That doesn't sound like your older brother."

"But it _does_ sound like your oldest sister, who is friends with Lincoln's oldest sister," replied the Hispanic tomboy, "And who's to say that Allison wouldn't want to lend a hand if and when the person or persons who made that post are found?"

Astrid nodded in a manner that showed she was conceding to Ronnie Anne's point. Leaning back slightly, the white-haired Ace girl remarked with a sigh, "I just wish that there was some way to figure out who it was that made that post about Lincoln's sister."

Suddenly, Lincoln had an idea, an epiphany if you will. One that was sparked in some way by what Astrid had just said. Lincoln reached into a bag, pulled out a pad of paper and a pen, and wrote something down. The sole Loud boy's actions caught the attention of the two fifth-grade girls, both of which wore mild looks of curiosity.

"…Hey, Lincoln," Ronnie Anne began, "You just had an idea?"

"One that Astrid just gave me, actually," Lincoln replied, then added while specifically addressing the white-haired Ace girl, "Thanks for that, by the way."

"You're…" Astrid began, both her tone and expression suggesting that she was going to need some clarification on this one, "…Welcome?" After a few minutes, the video chat had to end, mostly because the girls had to go with their respective brothers and otherwise would have been left alone. Just as well, as Lincoln had something he wanted to look into.

Shutting off his computer and putting most of his stuff away, Lincoln got himself dressed a bit more; he was wearing his orange t-shirt, orange sweatpants and a pair of socks, an outfit that had started to become something of a regular outfit for Lincoln around the house. The sole Loud boy changed into an outfit that consisted of an orange polo and a pair of pants; this was something of a 'traditional' outfit for Lincoln, although he still wore socks over his feet.

Taking his little notebook that he had just written in with him, Lincoln set off to look into a rather important matter. What Astrid said near the end of the video chat gave the white-haired boy an idea on how he could look into figuring out who it was that made that posting about Lori. Sure, neither he or Astrid or Ronnie Anne or anyone else along those lines had any idea of a way they could figure out who the culprit was.

But Lincoln _did_ know of someone who had the means to figure all of that out.

* * *

Unfortunately for Lincoln, the person that he was looking for wasn't in her bedroom when he stopped by. Lincoln assumed that Lisa, the family's resident genius, would very easily have the means to learn who it was that made that slanderous post about Lori on social media; according to Leni, Lisa had once used her 'super personal computer' to get the fashionable Loud sister some info on some guy that she wanted to avoided a while ago. With Lisa having a 'super personal computer' as Leni put it, along with what Lisa has been known to be capable of, it should not be too much of a stretch for the four-year-old genius to use said computer to do a bit of digging around on social media to learn who it was that was apparently out to ruin Lori's social life.

When Lincoln did enter the bedroom shared by Lisa and Lily, all Lincoln saw was Lily laying in her crib. Upon hearing someone enter the bedroom she shared with her super-smart big sister, Lily looked up and, upon seeing her big brother, squealed excitedly. "Wincon!" the baby Loud sister cheered as she waived her arms at him. Smiling to himself because he knew what Lily was asking for, Lincoln walked over to the crib, gently scooped her up and held her.

"Hey, Lilster," the sole Loud boy said, "I don't suppose you have any idea where Lisa had gone off to, do you? I kind of need her help with something rather important."

"Gbarlpfhlx," Lily sputtered incoherently in baby-talk, clearly having no idea about what her big brother was asking about. She did lay her head against Lincoln left shoulder, though, and proceeded to try and cuddle with him. Lincoln should have figured that Lily wouldn't be able to be of much help. Even so, he couldn't really blame her; besides, Lily was being totally adorable right now.

After a few minutes of holding Lily while very gently bouncing her, Lincoln eventually got the little Loud to drift off to sleep. Gently and quietly, the sole Loud boy laid Lily back in her crib so that she could resume her nap. Although the trip to Lisa and Lily's room proved to be a bust for Lincoln, he had to admit that he liked the stop nonetheless.

Taking his leave from Lisa and Lily's room, Lincoln proceeded to continue on his search for his brainy younger sister. He was hoping that this search wouldn't take him all day, although he couldn't shake the feeling that it may very well do so.

* * *

Lincoln figured that he could try looking for Lisa at a few places that he figured he could find the little genius at. His first stop brought him to the Helmandollar residence, home of Lisa's friend Darcy. It still amazed the sole Loud boy from time to time that Lisa had actually made friends. Still, he had to put that mild feeling of amazement to the side; Lincoln had a task that he needed to do, and he needed Lisa to help him with that task.

Upon reaching the front door of the Helmandollar residence, Lincoln gave it a good couple of knocks. After a while, a kind-looking adult woman answered the door. "Excuse me," Lincoln began when he saw the woman, "But is my younger sister Lisa Loud here?"

"Oh, you're Darcy's little friend's older brother?" the adult woman remarked in a mildly amused tone. As the woman talked to Lincoln, Darcy herself came wandering over, her signature stuffed giraffe Rafo in her arms as usual. Upon seeing Lincoln standing at the front door, Darcy instantly recognized the white-haired boy.

"Oh!" Darcy said upon seeing Lincoln, "You're Lisa's big brother!"

"Hey, Darcy," Lincoln greeted as he waved at the four-year-old girl, "I was just asking your mother if she had seen Lisa lately. I'm trying to track her down because I need her help with something."

With a curious look on her face, Darcy looked up at Lincoln and asked, "Why, what happened?" Suddenly gasping in a shocked manner, Darcy said, "Lisa's not in trouble, is she?"

"Oh no, Lisa is doing good," Lincoln replied in a reassuring tone, "In fact one of me and Lisa's older sisters is in kind of a tight spot, and I figure that Lisa would know just what to do in order to bail our sister out."

After considering the white-haired boy for a few brief moments, Darcy then asked, "Is it Lisa's sister with the pretty fashion? You know, Lynn?"

"Lynn is me and Lisa's athletic older sister," Lincoln clarified, "And Leni is our sister who is into fashion." Holding a hand out in a gesture to cut off Darcy from trying to continue, Lincoln said, "It's me and Lisa's sister Lori who needs some help."

"She's the one who likes playing in mud, right?" Darcy asked.

With a sigh that sounded mildly amused, Lincoln said, "No, that's Lana." The sole Loud boy proceeded to pull out a small family photo that had him and all of his and Lisa's sisters in it. Pointing to where Lori was in the photo, Lincoln said to Darcy, "That is me and Lisa's sister Lori. She's the oldest one."

"Oh!" Darcy exclaimed, sounding as if she knew what the older boy was talking about, "That's Lisa's sister who she said just became a grown-up!"

"Yes," Lincoln said as he nodded in the affirmative, "Someone did something really mean to Lori, and I know that Lisa has the means to find out who it was. That's why I was asking if you or your mother had seen Lisa."

After looking like she was thinking about something really, really hard, Darcy then said, "Oh! Lisa said that she was going to David's place!" With a bit of a mischievous giggle, the four-year-old girl said, "Lisa wants to be snack-time buddies with David."

Lincoln nodded in understanding, knowing full well that his brainy little sister had something of a crush on the four-year-old boy genius. "However," Darcy continued, getting Lincoln's attention, "I think Lisa went over to David's because he said that wanted her help in making our friend Hugo braver and stuff at school."

The white-haired boy knew what Darcy was talking about; a while ago, Lisa recruited Darcy's help in reaching out to a young boy in their kindergarten class by the name of Hugo, a kind but painfully shy boy who suffered from some degree of social anxiety. Lincoln was surprised, as well as a little proud, to hear that Lisa's efforts in reaching out to the shy four-year-old boy has had some notable degree of success.

Now knowing where to go, as he was familiar with the residences of all of his sisters' crushes, Lincoln thanked Darcy and her mother for their time before he turned around to take his leave. As he proceeded to walk away, a slight pain from his left leg made him flinch. This didn't go by unnoticed by Mrs. Helmandollar.

"Are you okay, young man?" Mrs. Helmandollar asked, sounding concerned to do having seen Lincoln flinch upon using his bum leg.

"Oh, Lisa told me that her bother has a very big owie on one of his legs," Darcy said, having a vague idea what was bothering Lincoln upon seeing him flinch slightly from pain, "But Lisa didn't say anything else besides that. She said that how important it is means that the important parts about it has to be on family-only knowing."

Turning to regard Lincoln, Mrs. Helmandollar said, "Do…do you want a lift to where your little sister had gone to, young man?"

Given the little spasm just now was still bothering him a little bit, Lincoln replied, "Actually, if that wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd really appreciate that." Mrs. Helmandollar nodded once in an understanding manner. Before long, the sole Loud boy was off with Darcy and Darcy's mom over to where David lived.

* * *

After a drive that took a few minutes, Lincoln, Darcy and Darcy's mom arrived at David's family's place. Lincoln knocked on the front door a few times; before long, the door was answered by a smart-looking four-year-old boy who Lincoln quickly identified as Lisa's crush David.

"Hey, David," Lincoln greeted.

"Ah, you are Lisa's older brother," David greeted in return, "Lincoln, was it?" After Lincoln nodded in the affirmative, David leaned to his side as he noticed Darcy and her mom. "Is there something that you all wish to get my assistance on?" David asked.

"Actually David, Lisa's big brother here was looking for Lisa," Darcy explained, "Last I saw her earlier, she was heading over to you because you wanted her help in making Hugo braver and stuff."

Nodding in the affirmative, the four-year-old genius boy replied, "Ah yes. Lisa is going to help me with making Hugo more confident in social interactions. As a matter of fact, she was actually by earlier. However, she had to return home really quick in order to pick up something that she claims is of the utmost importance in our endeavors."

"So I missed her again?" Lincoln replied, sounding mildly disappointed.

"Worry not," David replied, "I'm certain that Lisa will be returning before long. I estimate that it'll be no more than an hour or so." Lincoln nodded in agreement with the four-year-old genius boy, asking if it was okay to wait around for Lisa to come back. Mrs. Helmandollar said that she had to take Darcy back home, and asked Lincoln if he'll be needing any more help from this point. Lincoln replied that his and Lisa's parents would be able to pick him up from here. The white-haired boy also thanked Mrs. Helmandollar for her help thus far.

* * *

As he and David waited for Lisa to get back, Lincoln got a call from home telling him that Lisa got a little sick because she ate something that she didn't know wasn't properly cooked; apparently, Lynn Sr.'s cooking career were marked by as many failures as they were successes. Since Lisa was waiting for him at home, possibly too under the weather to be of much help, Lincoln figured that he might as well head home himself.

Furthermore, both parents were busy, with Lynn Sr. having Vanzilla at the time, so Lincoln was going to have to huff it. Luckily for the white-haired boy, his family's place wasn't too far away from where David lived. Lincoln figured that he should be able to put up with his bum leg bothering him a bit until he made his way back home.

As the sole Loud boy walked, his mind kept drifting off to the fact that, due to the malice of two unknown persons, Lori's social life had taken a very serious hit. Lincoln still couldn't help but be bothered by the fact that his oldest sister was suffering, and that there wasn't a single thing that he could do to set things right for Lori. If only Lincoln was able to figure out who it was that made that mean-spirited post about Lori up on social media. Then once he had that information in hand, Lincoln knew just what he was going to do in ret-

"Hey, did you hear about how Loud has refused to show her face in public ever since we made that post about her yesterday?" Lincoln overheard a female voice say to a companion of some kind, cutting his own thoughts off midsentence. Upon hearing what the voice had said, especially since it was talking about the post made about Lori, Lincoln looked around to see who it was that could have said it.

Eventually, the white-haired boy's eyes fell on two girls that Lincoln estimated to be around the same age as Lori. Lincoln also recognized them as those girls Bianca and Sooyoung, the two girls that Lori and her friend Carol had gotten into a selfie war or sorts with sometime ago. The sold Loud boy didn't really care all that much about the business of selfies in general, but given all of the pain over the last few days that was caused by the power of social media, it was more or less all that Lincoln could think about.

Lincoln could tell full well that he hadn't been spotted by either Bianca or Sooyoung yet, and he quickly took to a position hiding behind a rather large bush so that he could continue to listen in on the conversation between Bianca and Sooyoung. If what the one girl said about making that post about Lori was true, then Lincoln thought that he had just gotten one hell of a lead on finally discovering who it was that made that mean-spirited post that effectively killed Lori's social life.

"The last I heard of her since we made that post," the girl Lincoln identified as Sooyoung said, "Only Bobby and his cousin have seen Loud. Others have been wanting to check in on Loud, but she's too mortified to see anyone. Hell, Bobby and his cousin were reported as saying that they were both surprised that Loud even saw them at all."

"Ha!" the girl that Lincoln identified as Bianca remarked with a laugh; Lincoln could also tell from Bianca's voice that it was she who said the first thing that he had heard. "Serve her right for screwing us over the way she did," Bianca said, "Still can't believe that we haven't taken down Pingrey yet."

"It's obvious that she's made of tougher stuff than Loud," Sooyoung remarked, "But then again, it shouldn't be too difficult for us to crack miss Homecoming queen." The two girls shared a laugh before they proceeded on their way, unaware that Lincoln had heard enough to know that they were the ones responsible for Lori's current funk.

Since he practically got a confession out of the persons responsible for screwing over his older sister, Lincoln wanted to proceed with getting back at them. However, he knew full well that it wasn't all that good of an idea to proceed with circumstantial evidence at best. Still, given what he had just heard Bianca and Sooyoung talk about just now, the sole Loud boy had a pretty good idea on where he can have Lisa's search begin.

* * *

When he finally got home, Lincoln went right up to Lisa and Lily's room. Upon walking in, Lincoln saw that, although Lisa did look under the weather, she was still more than capable of helping him with what he wanted, if her casually experimenting with a few beakers were any sort of indication to that. Lincoln cleared his throat somewhat loudly, getting Lisa's attention and getting her to turn around.

"Ah, is there anything that I ca assist you with, Lincoln?" Lisa asked upon seeing her older brother, "Rest assured that despite being a bit under the weather due to eating some leftovers that apparently didn't keep all that well, I am still more than capable of assisting with all but the most strenuous tasks."

"Are you familiar with two girls that are roughly the same age as Lori," Lincoln began, "Named Bianca and Sooyoung?"

With a curious look on her face, the brainy Loud sister replied, "Why do you ask?"

"Let's…just say that I've heard that they did something that wasn't all that nice on social media," Lincoln began, and he would have gone on but Lisa cut him off.

"Uhhg," Lisa moaned in a clear tone of disdain, "It's bad enough that most girls in the age group of our two oldest sisters have been sucked up into that convoluted mess. Don't tell me you plan to get just as sucked in as them."

With a gentle shake of his head, Lincoln replied, "Wouldn't even dream of it. Like I was trying to say, I heard that Bianca and Sooyoung have done something on social media that isn't all that nice, and I just want to check to see if it's true."

Within moments, Lisa pulled up something on her super personal computer. Lisa then took a flashdrive out from her desk, put it into her computer, and then she moved some info from the computer and onto the flashdrive. Taking out the flashdrive, Lisa handed it to Lincoln while saying, "This here contains anything and everything that the two girls known as Bianca and Sooyung have done on social media in the whole of their respective histories."

"That…" Lincoln said, a clear hint of amazement in his tone as he received the flashdrive from Lisa, "…Was fast."

With a mildly amused look on her face, the brainy Loud sister replied, "Oh Lincoln, I thought that you have long since ceased to underestimate me."

The white-haired boy nodded in a manner that showed he was conceding to Lisa's point. Thanking her for her help, Lincoln proceeded to then take his leave. After all, he got was he was hoping for (along with a little bit extra), so he was going to have to do some work himself. After all, he wanted to see if his hunch was true.

* * *

To a notable lack of surprise on his part, Lincoln discovered that his hunch _was_ right. Those two girls Bianca and Sooyoung were, in fact, the ones responsible for that rather unfortunate post on social media that was made about Lori. Granted, Lincoln didn't learn that until he had sifted through ALL of the info he had gotten from Lisa about those two girls (seriously, Lincoln saw some rather weird things that he honestly could have gone his whole life without seeing and he would have been perfectly happy).

Still, when Lincoln saw that the rather unflattering posts about Lori really were made by Bianca and Sooyoung, he knew that he had his people. Now that he had the proof to show who it really was that decided to try and make Lori's social life a living hell, the white-hired boy now thought about how he could go about getting back at Bianca and Sooyoung for what they did to Lori.

The first thing that Lincoln contemplated was some sort of revenge scheme that would result in a fair amount of physical violence being dealt to Bianca and Sooyoung. However, Lincoln just as quickly disregarded that option; as much as he'd like to wish violence upon someone who had wronged someone he cared for deeply, Lincoln realized that he just didn't really have it in him to inflict severe physical violence to Bianca and Sooyoung.

First off, Lincoln realized that he wasn't all that violent a person by nature; inflicting violence to someone wasn't something that the sole Loud boy could really see himself doing. Second off, although seeing Bianca and Sooyoung brought to some measure of justice sounded appealing to Lincoln, going for dishing out physical violence, or anything else that was extreme, would be going too far as far as Lincoln was concerned. He wanted the punishment dealt to Bianca and Sooyoung to be proportional to what they did to Lori; the justice in that case would be or a more poetic nature that way.

That's why Lincoln decided to browse through all of the information that Lisa had given him; he figured that since ALL of their social media history up to this point was right here at his fingertips, he might as well make the most of it. After all, given that Bianca and Sooyoung messed things up on social media for Lori, Lincoln figured that he could do the same to Bianca and Sooyoung in return.

Yes, that is what Lincoln figured that he'd do. No physical violence, no need to overexert himself trying to set up some crazy revenge scheme or anything; hell, the sole Loud boy figured that his plan would take him no more than an hour or so, not counting time spent sifting through ALL of the information that he had been provided. But then again, that's the beauty of Lisa having more than risen to the occasion.

Lincoln had no shortage of material to work with.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER TWO

Author's notes:

And there we go. Lincoln knows who it was that decided to cause Lori end of embarrassment and misery in social media, and he got the material and info needed to get back at them, doing so in a way that his targets will never know it was him. After all, it took a tech genius like Lisa to go about looking into who it was to get info on the responsible parties; no one without access to Lisa-level tech would ever figure things out without getting _really_ lucky.

Anyway, the next chapter will see Lincoln go about getting back at those who have wronged Lori. It won't be anything as big or showy as what any of the sisters did to avenge Lincoln back in 'Ten reasons', but it will still get the job done just as well.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter three: Literally Siblings part three- Eye for an eye, photo for a photo

Twelve-year-old Lincoln Loud was scrolling through a proverbial library of social media activity from two late-teens girls known as Bianca and Sooyoung. The reason to explain how Lincoln got all of that information was because his younger sister Lisa, the resident genius of the family (who just so happened to turn the concept of genius up to eleven), obtained the information for him at his request. The four-year-old girl didn't even bother to check any of the info that she had collected for Lincoln, although she would probably be able to figure out _why_ Lincoln would have asked for the info if she saw the more recent postings made by Bianca and Sooyoung.

The two late-teens girls were the ones who made all of the reputation smearing posts about Lori, the oldest Loud sibling, and were the reason why Lori has been a wreck ever since.

Seeing the suffering that his oldest sibling was going through, the sole Loud boy wished that there was something that he could have done to fix things, to make Lori happy again and to bring her out of her funk. Lincoln also wished that he knew who it was that made such an unwarranted attack on Lori on social media, and upon finding out that it was Bianca and Sooyoung, Lincoln began planning, began going over things in his head, so that he could get revenge on them.

It wouldn't be anything too extreme or over the top; Lincoln just didn't have it in him to take things too far here, and even if he did, his left leg, which was still in terrible shape, would have made taking that path way too tough for him. The sole Loud boy figured that, since Bianca and Sooyoung made those social life-wrecking posts about Lori, then he himself would make similar posts of a proportionate level about the two late-teens girls.

"_Let's see if they can take what they can dish_," Lincoln thought as he continued to sift through all of the info that Lisa had gathered for him, "_Although if they willingly did to Lori what they did, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the answer is a clear no_."

The white-haired boy continued to look through post after post, bit of info after bit of info. He wanted at least one thing on each girl so that he had something good to work with. Once he had that, he would then look into fabricating photos of Bianca and Sooyoung that detailed the bits on them that he had chosen; the two girls were willing to use Photoshop to make those photos of Lori that they had spread around, and Lincoln's own skills with the software were surprisingly good for a boy who just turned twelve. Why shouldn't he do the same?

Due to the sheer bulk of info that he was provided, it took the sole Loud boy some time to look at everything; he even took a few notes on certain bits that caught his eye as he looked as bit after bit of info on Bianca and Sooyoung that he had at his fingertips. Eventually, after Lincoln finally finished everything, he picked up his notepad that he had taken notes with and scanned over all of his notes.

After a few minutes of considering his notes, Lincoln settled on one good bit each for the two late-teens girls. Forming a game plan as he acted, the white-haired boy proceeded to fire up the Photoshop application on his computer. By the time that he was done giving some photos of Bianca and Sooyoung that he had a few 'touch-ups', Lincoln suspected that the two girls will think twice before being mean-spirited and petty.

* * *

Later that day, Luna Loud, the third oldest Loud sister (third oldest Loud sibling overall), was hanging out with her friend slash love interest Sam Sharp. "Dude, sorry I couldn't hang out with you during Music-palooza," the blonde-haired Sharp girl said to Luna, "I was caught up helping my folks out with something for my grandmother."

"It's no biggie," Luna replied in an understanding tone, "No need to beat yourself up over missing out on something that will happen next year as well."

Nodding once in understanding, Sam remarked, "Yeah, thanks for understanding." With a look of curiosity on her face, Sam continued, "So Lunes, I heard that during Music-palooza, you and your siblings entertained a friend of yours from California, plus some of the Californian friend's buddies that he's roommates with."

"Totally, brah," Luna confirmed, "My bud Crow came out from California with his roommates to come see Music-palooza!" With a look of mild annoyance, the musically-inclined Loud sister continued, "However, his roommate Jack pulled a really mean stunt with how he insulted my older sister Leni." Scoffing in a tone that was equal parts annoyed and offended, Luna said, "That asshole Jack had the nerve to call Leni, and this is a direct quote, a-"

Luna was cut off when she felt her phone go off, so she reached into a pocket on her skirt and pulled her phone out. As Luna was checking her phone, Sam asked in a tone of mild curiosity, "Something pop up, Lunes?"

"Ehh, from what I'm seeing, it's something about those bitches Bianca and Sooyoung," Luna replied casually, "They keep trying to antagonize my sister Lori and Lori's various friends over some business with HOLY CRUD DUDE, THAT IS HILARIOUS!" Hearing Luna deviate and exclaim midsentence caught the blonde-haired Sharp girl's attention.

Wanting to see why Luna was laughing her ass off, Sam walked around to stand next to Luna, and peeked over her right shoulder a bit to look at her phone. When she saw what Luna had up on her phone, Sam proceeded to laugh her own ass off.

* * *

"I'm still worried about Lori, dude," Bobby Santiago said in a concerned tone as he was hanging out with his friend Aggro Ace over at the Ace residence, "I mean, she's barely spoken to anyone ever since someone made those posts about her on social media a few days ago. I can't even get a hold of her; it's like she's trying to avoid me for some reason." Sighing in a resigned tone, Bobby continued, "I wish I knew what was wrong with her."

With a serious look of consideration on his face, the male Ace twin remarked, "Perhaps she feels so ashamed over the incident on social media that she's afraid to face you, feeling that the slanderous posts have made her unworthy of being in your company." Leaning back in his seat, Aggro continued, "It would not have been the first time that a girl has acted in such a manner while trying to avoid her loved ones."

"Seriously? You think that Lori doesn't feel she deserves to be with me over what those social media posts have done?" Bobby replied. After a nod in the affirmative from Aggro, the Santiago teen continued, "Dude, there is no way I would ever be ashamed of Lori, especially over some stupid social media incident that wasn't even her-"

Bobby was cut off when he heard his phone, which laid off to the side on the dining table that Bobby and Aggro sat at, go off. Picking it up, Bobby proceeded to check his phone to see what was going on. Scoffing in an annoyed tone, Bobby said, "Oh, it's just something about those jerks Bianca and Sooyoung that like to screw around with Lori and her friends at school." As he shook his head in disappointment, Bobby continued, "Seriously. Can't those two _putas_ ever leave Lori and her friends alone?"

"Oh, them?" Aggro remarked in a mildly confused tone. After a nod in the affirmative from Bobby, Aggro said, "Yeah, I know who you're talking about. Allison told me about how Bianca and Sooyoung like to antagonize Lori and Carol from time to time, as well as mess with their friend Trixie Goldman." With a gentle shake of his head, Aggro continued, "I still have no idea what those two girl have against-"

"PFFT!" Bobby exclaimed suddenly, cutting his friend off midsentence as he had to keep from laughing out loud.

Shooting his friend a wry look of curiosity, Aggro half said half asked, "Is there something funny that you wish to share?"

Gesturing for Aggro to get up and come over, Bobby said, "Dude, you have got to see this! Someone just made some posts about Bianca and Sooyoung that are frigg'en hilarious!" Deciding to humor his friend, Aggro got up and walked over to see what was on Bobby's phone that made him laugh so much. Upon seeing what was on Bobby's phone's screen, Aggro, normally an example of unflappable stoicism, had to stifle a laugh much in the same manner that Bobby had to not moments previously.

* * *

Lola and Lana, the twins of the Loud family, were at the residence of Lola's crush Winston, who had the girls plus his close friend Skippy (who is Lana's crush) over. "Seriously, that dog that Anna's older sister has is massive!" Skippy said as he told the other six-year-olds a story, "I legit thought that Anna's sister actually had a pet bear the first time I saw that thing! I swear, that dog looks big enough to ride like a horse!"

"Oh, Lola, our siblings and I watched some pets for Anna and her siblings when they went to Great Lakes City a short while ago," Lana said, "That includes Anna's sister's dog. And yeah, he really IS a very big dog. I swear, when I was asked to clean up after him at one point, I thought that he somehow ate and pooped whole our pet hamster Geo."

With a gentle shake of his head, Skippy said, "I bet that his poops are BIGGER than hamsters."

"Can we please not talk about dogs pooping?!" Lola said, nearly exclaimed. It was clear that the pageant winning Loud sister was not comfortable with the current conversation's topic.

"With all due respect, my good man," Winston said when he turned to face Skippy, "I believe that Lola has a very good point. The bathroom habits of large dogs isn't the most pleasant thing to talk-" Winston was cut off when he felt something go off in his pocket. Fishing out a smartphone, the blonde-haired boy unlocked his phone to check to see what announcement or whathaveyou just came in. "I say," Winston said in a curious tone, "Whatever could have-" Upon seeing why his phone went off, Winston said, "Well, that isn't the most pleasant social media post in the world."

"What?" Skippy remarked as he walked over to look over his friend's shoulder to see what he was talking about, "I'm pretty sure it can't be worse than the stunt someone pulled on Lana's older- PFFT! BHUHAHAHAHAHA!" Upon seeing Skippy laughing so much that he had trouble standing a bit, Lola and Lana walked over to see what it was on Winston's phone that was making Skippy laugh so much.

"Hey Winston," Lola began, "What is it that's making Skippy laugh so-"

Lola was cut off when Lana, having seen what Skippy saw, proceeded to laugh just as loudly and as hard as her crush. Lola was momentarily distracted by Lana and Skippy both now rolling on the floor laughing before she turned her attention back to Winston's phone. Upon seeing what was up, Lola looked at it much the same way that Winston was. "…You're right, Winston," Lola remarked in a mildly disturbed tone, "This isn't the most pleasant social media post in the world. It's way worse than the one that was recently made about me and Lana's sister Lori."

* * *

Lynn was hanging out with her friends Margo, Paula and Mitzie at the local Burpin' Burger; the girls were celebrating having won a game of soccer, in which Mitzie scored the winning shot. "…Lynn's right, Mitzie," Margo remarked, "It is called soccer, not football. Football is the sport with the brown, oval-shaped ball."

"I don't care what it's called here on this side of the pond," Mitzie replied, "But back where me folks and I come from, it's called football."

"Oh yeah, that's right, Mitzie," Lynn said, "You and your family come from England."

"I bet your one older sister is jealous," Paula said to the sporty Loud sister.

Letting out a bit of a chuckle, Lynn replied, "Yeah, I bet that Luna-" Lynn stopped short when she heard a phone go off. Realizing it was hers, Lynn fished her phone out and unlocked it to check to see what the matter was. "I wonder what the heck could be-" Lynn began, but when she saw what was up, she promptly went, "PFFT!" Seeing the sporty Loud sister struggle to keep herself from laughing out loud, Margo, Paula and Mitzie gave her curious looks.

Being the first among the girls to speak, Mitzie said, "Hey guv, what's the matter?" In response, Lynn turned her phone around so the other three girls could all see what was on her screen that was making her laugh so much. Upon seeing what was on the screen of Lynn's phone, Margo, Paula and Mitzie all proceeded to hold their guts due to laughing so much and so hard.

* * *

Leni was over at Royal Woods Mall with Carlota Casagrande and Allison Ace; the two fashionable girls were attempting to try and get the female Ace twin to be more conscious about being fashionable. "What manner of garment is this supposed to be?" Allison asked as she held a light lavender sleeveless blouse that was handed to her by Carlota.

"That's a blouse, Allison," Carlota remarked, "It's a pretty sleeveless top that you're supposed to wear. Trust me, this will make you stand out all the more to guys."

Gesturing to the blouse, Allison remarked, "It will make me look like a harlot is what it will do!" Handing the blouse back to Carlota, the female Ace twin said, "I simply do not see the issue with the manner in which I currently outfit myself."

"No offence Allison, but the outfit you currently wear totes looks like something a guy can get away with wearing no problem," Leni explained, "And from what Carlota and I saw in your closet when we were over earlier, you don't own any clothing made specifically for girls. Trust us when we say that a good blouse or dress will be just the touch your wardrobe needs in order to bring out your inner-"

Leni was cut off when she heard her phone go off in her purse, so she reached into her purse and fished around in there for a bit before recovering her phone. Swiping her finger across the screen, the fashionable Loud sibling said, "I wonder what just happened that, like, got my phone to go off like that?"

Gently shaking her head, Carlota remarked, "I have no idea, girl. It's probably a text or something."

"Hang on," Leni said, "It's actually something about Bianca and Sooyoung."

Scoffing in an annoyed tone, Carlota said, "You mean those _putas_?" With a gentle shake of her head, the seventeen-year-old Hispanic girl said, "What the hell could be so-" Carlota was cut off when Leni started giggling a lot, clearly amused by what she had seen.

Both Carlota and Allison gave the fashionable Loud sister curious looks, with Allison even asking, "What manner of happenings has you amused?"

In response to Allison's question, Leni, who was still giggling, turned her phone around to show the girls she was with what was on her phone's screen. Upon seeing what had made Leni laugh so much, Carlota and Allison both proceeded to laugh themselves.

* * *

Bianca and Sooyoung could not believe what was happening; not only had someone made slanderous, totally untrue posts about the both of them on social media, but the responsible creep or creeps also made clearly photo shopped photos to go along with said posts. It goes without saying that both the lies and the faked phots were taking Bianca's and Sooyoung's respective reputations in Royal Woods and not only throwing them to the ground as hard as possible, but were also grinding said reputations under their heels.

The two girls knew that they had to do some SERIOUS damage control.

"This is so damn stupid!" Sooyoung exclaimed as she and Bianca were going about on the hunt for answers, "Who in their right mind would so much as have the nerve to pull a stunt like this on the two of us? I mean, do they WANT the two of us to find out who they are and ruin what little pathetic lives they have?"

"I agree," Bianca said as she nodded in agreement with her BFF, "When we find out who they are, and trust me when I say that we WILL find out who they are, there is nothing that can stop us from ruining them in retaliation. What we'll do to them will be loads worse than what we did to Loud because she got more likes on her selfies than we did."

The two girls proceeded to laugh amongst themselves, clearly sounding like they were going to enjoy what they were planning to do to whoever it was that decided to screw them over on social media. However, what neither Bianca nor Sooyoung knew was that neither of them would never get the chance to do so.

Lincoln Loud, the one responsible for the girls' embarrassment on social media, had not only followed them, but had recorded everything that they had just said on a handheld tape recorder that he borrowed from his younger sister Lisa. And neither Bianca nor Sooyoung were ever aware that the sole Loud boy had been secretly trailing them.

With recorded proof that it was Bianca and Sooyoung that screwed Lori over (what better proof could there be than the two girls actually admitting it was them?), the twelve-year-old Loud boy proceeded to make his way back home. The two girls were already suffering from extreme social embarrassment because of his actions, but Lincoln felt that he just had to get it out that it was them who felt it was necessary to try to ruin Lori's life.

And he knew just how to do it.

* * *

Sometime later that afternoon, the Loud sisters were all having a late lunch at home; to the surprise of the others, Lori had join them, although it could partly have been explained by the fact that Lori and Carol's rivals on social media, Bianca and Sooyoung, had just suffered just as much embarrassment, if not more so, than what she herself had suffered.

"Hey guys," Leni began, "I don't suppose any of you know where Linky is, don't you?"

With a shrug, Lisa remarked, "I'm assuming that our sole brother unit is out socializing with his friends right now."

"They're probably jealous of the bro because of what Lori's boyfriend got him for his birthday," Luna said causally, "Hell, I'd be jealous of Lincoln if he got a sick new guitar."

"Luna," Lori began, "There is literally no way that Lincoln would be seriously interested in playing a guitar, at least to the same extent as-" Lori was cut off when her phone went off next to her lunch. Picking up her phone to answer it, Lori saw that it was a new post on social media, a post related to Bianca and Sooyoung. "Huh, it's an audio clip," the oldest Loud sister remarked as she pressed the play button on her phone's screen; the volume was high enough so that all of the Loud sisters could hear the audio clip.

As it played, Lori and her sisters all heard Bianca and Sooyoung's voices talk about how they were planning to find out who it was that ruined their social media standing, saying they'd do the responsible party what they did to 'Loud' because she got more likes on her selfies than they did on theirs. When the Loud sisters all heard that part, they knew there and then that not only where Bianca and Sooyoung talking about Lori when they said 'Loud', but that they had also confessed that it was them who had ruined Lori's social media life.

Slamming the surface of the table with both of her hands, Lori exclaimed angrily as she forced herself up into a standing position, "THOSE FUCKING WHORES!" Barely simmering down, Lori said as she continued to vent, "I swear, when I get my hands on them, I will literally-"

Lori was cut off when her phone went off in a manner that showed she was getting a call. Answering it, Lori said in an almost snapping tone, "Hello?" After a few seconds, Lori instantly calmed down significantly while saying, "Oh, Bobby! What is it, Boo-Boo Bear?" The other nine Loud sisters watched as the oldest among their number listened to her boyfriend on the other end of the call. "…Seriously?!" Lori said, "Huh. Yeah, I heard about what Bianca and Sooyoung did. I can't believe it reached so many others first."

The other nine Loud sisters continued to watch as Lori covered a few other things on the phone with her boyfriend. "…Alright, Boo-Boo Bear, I'll see you soon," Lori said into her phone, "Kisses." Ending the call there, Lori turned to face her sisters. "Well, those bitches Bianca and Sooyoung got what they had coming," Lori announced.

"Seriously, dude?" Luna asked.

Nodding a few times in the affirmative, Lori explained, "Yeah. Apparently, someone was able to record Bianca and Sooyoung talking about how it was them who tried to screw me over on social media, then they took that recording and posted it."

"Yeah, we heard that much," Lola remarked.

"Well, when a lot of other people heard it, they decided to confront Bianca and Sooyoung about it," Lori went on to explain, "Let's just say that so many people unfriended those two so quickly, that Bianca and Sooyoung are essentially finished."

"Well thank goodness those two got what they had coming," Luan said, "I was strongly tempted to go April Fool's mode on those two upon hearing that it was them who had decided to try and ruin you, but I guess that won't be necessary, seeing as how someone else had decided to go and set things right before I could."

Nodding in agreement, Lynn said, "I wish I could meet whoever screwed those two bitches over. I would have treated them to Burpin' Burger." The other Loud sisters all spoke words to the effect of what Lynn just said, their feelings on the matter the same as that of their sporty sister's feelings on the matter.

* * *

Later that evening, after the Loud family had dinner, Lincoln was relaxing a bit in his bedroom. Turning to face the viewers/readers, the sole Loud boy said, "Well, I managed to get back at the two girls that tried to ruin Lori's life, doing to them what they tried to do to Lori. Speaking of, Lori's managed to bounce back from what those two girls did. I'm glad to see that Lori is doing a whole lot better now."

Laying down on his bed, wearing a somewhat baggy orange t-shirt, his pair of orange sweatpants and a pair of socks, Lincoln remarked before opening a comic book, "I just hope that none of my other sisters are ever screwed over like how Lori was. I wouldn't wish anything like that on any of them."

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER THREE

Author's notes:

There we have it. Bianca and Sooyoung were embarrassed on social media like how they did to Lori (and to a lesser extent tried to do to Carol), and their plot was even exposed, not only killing any hope they have to recover, but costing them the rest of their friends, essentially turning them into social pariahs. I'm kind of worried that this might have been a bit overkill compared to what the two of them did to Lori, but I felt it was somewhat necessary for the public to know that it was them who sought to ruin Lori's social media life, and for so petty a reason to boot.

Anyway, the next chapter will see the beginning of the next arc in this story, an arc that will show that Lincoln will have quite a bit of work ahead of him. But then again, given what he just finished doing for Lori, Lincoln shouldn't have all much trouble thinking up how to go about setting things right for the next sister. He probably won't even have to get her a meatball sub.

Next time: The Athlete and the Dweeb


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter four: The Athlete and the Dweeb part one- An attempted shakedown

Lincoln Loud, a (now) twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, had woken up in his family's home one well enough morning and was getting some breakfast. While he sat at the table, eating his bowl of cereal, he had the company of his three oldest sisters, those being Lori, Leni and Luna, although the girls were talking about something important amongst themselves, leaving their only brother sitting there more or less ignored.

"So girls," Lori began, "Seeing as how Lynn's got that big important football game coming up, we're going to have to discuss things with the rest of our siblings to make sure that either all other important events we have can fit into the schedule for that timeframe, or that we can arrange for transport to events that are important but take place around the same time as Lynn's football game."

"What, like, would qualify as an important event?" Leni asked.

With a shrug, Lori replied, "We'll have to see who has what expected in the timeframe of Lynn's football game. If there's something like one of the weekly poetry slams that Lucy goes to, then Lucy can skip it and go to Lynn's game instead. But if Lola has one of her pageants in the same time, then we'll have to arrange for someone to take Lola to the pageant."

"What if Lisa has to give one of those lectures of hers at the local college?" Luna suggested.

Pointing to the musically inclined Loud sister, Lori said, "That's something that Lisa literally can't miss, so that qualifies as something we'll have to make ride arrangements for."

"Hopefully there will be enough people available to help cover any rides that we may end up needing," Lincoln spoke up, getting his sisters to turn to face him; judging by the looks on both Luna's and Leni's respective faces, they both just realized that Lincoln was even there in the first place. With all eyes on him, the white-haired boy continued, "I'm just saying that if there's a max number of important events going on aside from Lynn's football game, then we're going to have to ask for a number of favors, as well as call in any that we may be owed."

With a look of consideration on her face, Lori said, "You got a point, Lincoln." Closing her eyes for a bit so she could think, Lori remarked, "From what I can figure, events aside from Lynn's game that can't be missed would include anything like one of Lisa's lectures at the college, one of Lola's pageants, a party that Luan has to perform at, and some sort of big music performance that Luna is involved in. That would be a total of four rides we'll have to ask for, assuming all of the events happen during Lynn's game."

"I'll call Sam and the others to see if we got a gig happening during the timeframe for Lynn's game," Luna said as she got up, having fished her phone out from the pocket on the side of her skirt. As the musically inclined Loud sister walked out of the dining room and into the living room, Lynn came in, walking past Luna as she did so. The sporty Loud sister was also carrying a collapsible, reusable scoreboard that was roughly the height and length of three seventy-page spiral notebooks standing up on end and side-by-side to each other.

Pointing to her younger brother in order to get his attention, Lynn asked, "Hey Lincoln, are you available to come to the park right now with me and a few of my friends for football practice?"

"Lynn!" Leni said, sounding a little shocked, "Linky, like, can't play football with you and your friends! His leg is still not feeling well!"

"And I would literally think that you would have learned a lesson from when you made him spend the entirety of the weekend before the attack on his school about forcing him into going along with one of your sports things," Lori remarked, a stern look of judgment on her face.

Holding up a hand to cut off any argument, Lynn said, "Girls, relax. I'm not forcing the matter on Lincoln, and I'll accept it if he says no. Besides, I was only asking him to come to the park with me. I wasn't asking him to actually participate in the football practice."

With a curious look on his face, Lincoln asked, "Then why are you asking me to come along?" It was then that Lynn brought her collapsible scoreboard item over, set it up, and placed it on the table for all to see.

Flipping the 'zero' score on the right end over to reveal the 'one' score, Lynn explained, "My friends and I need someone to man the scoreboard, since all of us will be participating in the practice. I figured that Lincoln could do it, seeing as how the scoreboard will be sitting next to him on the bleachers." Gesturing to Lincoln, Lynn added, "Assuming that you're okay with coming along to the park, of course."

Giving the notion a bit of thought, Lincoln said, "Actually, it would be a good excuse for me to get out of the house for some fresh air for a change, considering how much mom's been wanting me to stay here and take it easy ever since she got back from that trip to California that she took a while ago."

Chuckling a bit, Lori said, "It's funny, if you think about it. I mean, it wasn't too long ago that it was Lincoln wanting to take it easy and mom wanting him to get out and do something involving football." Gesturing to the scene as a whole, the oldest Loud sibling continued, "And now the opposite is literally playing out right in front of us."

Nodding in acknowledgement of the irony, Lincoln said, "Yeah, you got me there, Lori." Turning to face Lynn, Lincoln remarked, "Well, I'll be ready to go as soon as I finish breakfast and get dressed."

"Well alright," Lynn replied, "Glad to have you aboard, bro."

* * *

As Lincoln watched Lynn and her friends practice their playing, the sole Loud boy found himself seriously believing that Lynn and the others already had what they needed to win the upcoming game. Margo, Diane, Maya, Mitzie and Ulfric were all running around with Lynn in the area of the park that was designated for sports, while Lincoln and Paula (who once again had a cast on her leg thus she would end up missing the big game) sat on the bleachers and watched.

"You know," Paula remarked to Lincoln while all of the players were too busy with the practice, "I don't think the team layouts for this practice are all that fair."

"What do you mean?" Lincoln replied as he pointed to the playing, "It's three versus three."

Gently shaking her head, Paula said, "That's not what I mean, little man." Pointing to the playing, Paula explained, "Both Lynn, who is our team's overall best athlete, and Ulfric, who is our team's overall best guy at football, are on the same three person team. It would have made things more even for both teams if Lynn and Ulfric were on opposite sides from each other."

"If it makes you feel any better," Lincoln remarked with a hint of knowingness in his tone, "I believe Lynn wanted Ulfric on her side for a reason that is NOT winning the practice game."

With a look of curious surprise on her face, Paula said, "Lynn having a reason that does NOT involve winning a sports game? Huh." Turning her head to face the game, Paula replied, "Now I have heard of everything."

"…Really," Lincoln replied, a hint of knowing dryness in his tone, "Have you ever heard of several girls beating a blonde guy with an Australian accent to death over at a music festival and then making said death look like it was due to a drug overdose?"

With a confused look on her face, Paula said as she turned her head back around to face Lincoln, "Uhh…no."

"Well then you HAVEN'T heard of everything," Lincoln remarked, "And neither have I."

Paula, with the intent to ask Lynn later what her folks allow her younger brother to watch on TV and the internet, simply turned her attention back to the practice playing. By the time the practice had to be brought to a close, Lynn's side, to the complete lack of surprise from Paula, ended up as the winners. However, Paula noticed that the game was actually rather close, much closer than she was expecting given that Lynn had Ulfric playing for her.

Maybe Lincoln was right about Lynn wanting Ulfric on her side for a reason other than wanting to win the practice game.

* * *

"So, like," Leni said during a sibling meeting later that evening in Lori and Leni's room, "While Carlota and I had Allison with us at the clothes store at the mall, she asked if the clothing store sold any pauldrons." With a confused look on her face, the fashionable Loud sister continued, "What's a pauldron?"

"It's a part of standard medieval armor that's made to cover one's shoulder," Lisa explained.

Face palming, Leni said, "Oh geez, Carlota and I are trying to get Allison to realize that armor totes isn't fashionable."

Laughing out loud a bit, Lori said, "Hoo boy! Leni, I literally warned you and Carlota against trying to take Allison shopping for clothes in your tastes!" Most of the other Loud siblings agreed with Lori on how Leni and Carlota trying to take the female Ace twin clothes shopping for their tastes in clothing wasn't a good idea; only Lily, who is too young to actually talk, and Lincoln, who kept quiet out of respect for his fashionable older sister, didn't say anything.

"But anywho," Lori said after her laughter simmered down, "On to the first subject of tonight's sibling meeting. All of us here are aware of Lynn's big football game that's coming up, along with when said game will take place, right?" After everyone else replied in the affirmative, Lori said, "Good. Now, does anyone have anything important going on in that general timeframe that will make them miss out on going to Lynn's game?"

"Skippy's family got a new above ground pool and they're holding a pool party the day of Lynn's game," Lana said as she raised a hand, "Skippy invited me to the party."

"The game happens on the same day as the weekly poetry slams that I like going to," Lucy remarked as she raised a hand.

"Mom said that I have another leg-related appointment at the doctor's that day," Lincoln said as he raised a hand, "But it's in the morning and I should be able to get back in time before Lynn's big game."

After confirming that no one had anything else going on, Lori said, "Well it's good that your thing is too early to make you miss going to Lynn's game, Lincoln, because I literally can't see any reason to make you skip your thing." Turning to face Lana and Lucy, Lori said, "You two, on the other hand, are going to have to skip your respective things. Sorry, but this game is too important for Lynn and her team for you not to come and be there."

"Oh, come on!" Lana exclaimed, "Do you know how long I've been waiting to go over to Skippy's place, especially since he told me that he owns a pet dog that dug a huge hole in the backyard and when it rained some of the dirt ended up becoming mud?" With a defeated sigh, the tomboyish Loud time remarked, "And I was hoping for a chance to play in the mud pit, too…"

Shaking her head, Lori said, "Sorry, but you're going to have to miss out on the party." With a mildly disgusted look on her face, Lori added, "Also, you're literally not going to play in the mud pit that your little boyfriend's dog made."

With a shrug, Lana said, "I guess I'll make my own in the backyard here."

"Don't you dare even think about it," Lori remarked.

* * *

Hawk and Hank, a duo of brutish teens, were loitering around Flip's Food and Fuel one afternoon a few days before the big upcoming football game. The duo were seeing off a teen boy who was of a similar disposition as themselves, with Hawk even waving in a 'bye, see you later' manner that could be seen as a friendly gesture. Once that teen boy was out of sight, Hawk and Hank turned to face each other.

"Dude, that was the seventh person to bet on the Royal Woods team," Hawk said to his companion, worry clear in the brown-haired teen's tone.

"I know," Hank replied, sounding just as worried as his friend, "But then again, people all over Royal Woods are saying that with Aesir and that sporty Loud girl playing for the Royal Woods team, they're pretty much guaranteed to win the big upcoming game."

Nodding once in acknowledgement, Hawk continued, "And since you and I are the only ones so far to bet on our home team Hazeltucky, that means we're going to have to pay out big time if Royal Woods gets the win." Shaking his head in a manner that helped to convey his worry on the matter, Hawk continued, "We may be good, but Royal Woods has not only gotten better over time, but from the looks of things, they're currently better than us as a whole." Slapping himself in the forehead as he groaned in complaint, the brown-haired teen said, "How in the hell did the jerks in Royal Woods get ahold of star players like that Loud girl and Aesir?"

Shaking his head in a manner to show that he was lost, Hank replied, "You tell me and we'll both know." Pointing to his friend, the dark-skinned teen continued, "But you do have a point on how Aesir and the Loud girl will be our team's biggest concerns in the big upcoming game. And since it's going to take place here in Royal Woods, they'll not only have a home field advantage, but the adults here will be keeping a sharp eye out for anything and everything, which means that we won't be able to get away with trying to rough up a few of the opposing players in a bid to knock them out of the game."

Hawk, upon hearing what his friend had just explained, suddenly looked as if he was struck by a bolt of inspiration. "We can't get away with trying to rough up some opposing players during the big game," Hawk began, "But what if we try doing so _before_ the big game?"

Hank, with his own look of realization, realized what his friend was trying to get at. "…That's not a bad idea at all, my good man," the dark-skinned teen replied, "It might also send a warning to the local team here in Royal Woods. Okay, let's talk about how we'll go about doing this, as well as who on the Royal Woods team we'll try going after first."

* * *

The following afternoon, Lincoln was accompanying his sisters Lori, Leni, Luna and Lynn back from a trip to pick up a few things from the store; Lincoln came along because he was in the mood to get a candy that he had a sudden craving for (non-sour gummy worms), also he needed a refill on the prescription medication he had to take in regards to his aforementioned leg injury, so the group swung my the store's pharmacy while shopping.

"I'm telling you girls," Lynn said to her older sisters as they drove back home, "Royal Wood is totally going to thrash Hazeltucky in the big game this Friday."

"Yeah, I'm going to have to agree," Lincoln remarked, "From what I've seen when I watched them practice, Lynn and her friends looked like they had everything pretty much figured out." With a gentle shake of his head, the white-haired boy added, "I'm having trouble imagining Lynn and her team losing the game."

Lori had a bit of an amused smile, having found it somewhat odd that Lincoln is having so much support for Lynn and her pursuits. "Well luckily for Lynn, the whole family is going to be there to watch the game," Lori pointed out, "Hell, even Pop-Pop said that he'll be able to come by and watch the game, saying that Gram-Gram will be able to make it as well."

"I guess that means that Aunt Ruth is the only one who won't come out to see the game," Luna remarked as she did a quick count on the entirety of the whole Loud family, counting off people on the tips of her fingers, "Although I bet that most of can agree that it's actually a good thing." The entirety of the group all nodded in agreement; even Lynn, normally desperate to have all of her family come watch her as she has her moment of glory, wouldn't mind it all that much if her admittedly grody aunt didn't come out to watch the game.

"Oh, Lori," Leni began, "Didn't you say that Bobby and his family, like, said that they'd come to see the game as well?"

With a look of remembrance on her face, the oldest Loud sister said, "Thanks for reminding me, Leni!" To the group as a whole, Lori continued, "She's right. Bobby and his folks literally said that they'd come out to watch the game as well. They said something about wanting to do something as their first family outing since moving here to Royal Woods, and when I mentioned the upcoming game to my Boo-Boo Bear, he said that it was the perfect-"

Lori stopped short when, as she and the others turned a corner in Vanzilla, they spotted a group of onlookers gathered around two police cruisers, with two police officers talking to a teen boy who Lynn right away recognize as her teammate/boyfriend Ulfric. The foreign-born boy looked like he took a fairly decent hit to his face, but other than that looked perfectly fine. At Lynn's somewhat hurried and worried insistence, Lori found a place to park, then she and the others had to practically chase after Lynn when she got out to go over to Ulfric.

"…after I managed to take the other boy's bat from him," Lynn could hear Ulfric say to the two officers as she got close enough, "I chased both of them off. I believe that the one with the darker skin was holding his right hand over his left."

"Yeah, that matches up with what some of the witnesses said," the female officer of the pair, who Lynn recognized as Officer Schoffner, said as she and her companion, a somewhat younger-looking male African American officer, were talking to the foreign-born teen. Gesturing to Ulfric, Officer Schoffner continued, "Anyway, I contacted your parents and informed them of what had happened here. They're both on their way to pick you up, so would you mind waiting here for a few minutes?"

"We're also going to need your help in explaining to them that you aren't in any trouble," the African American officer said, "Because your one mom sounded worried that we were going to bring you in for no reason. Seriously, from what we were able to gather from the witnesses, those two boys are clearly the guilty party."

As Ulfric nodded in understanding, he and the two officers heard Lynn call out in a worried tone, "Ulfric! Are you okay?"

Watching as the sporty Loud sister made her way through the crowd of onlookers and over to Ulfric, Officer Schoffner said, "Hey, aren't you one of Loud's daughters? I don't suppose you know this here young man, do you?"

Turning to face the officer, Lynn said, "Ulfric's one of my teammates on the Royal Woods Roosters." With a hint of an embarrassed blush appearing on her face, the sporty Loud sister continued, "Also, he's my…umm…well…"

Officer Schoffner, with a knowing look on her face, cut Lynn off. "Alright, I get the picture," Schoffner remarked, a hint of amusement in her tone, "Since you're apparently familiar enough with Mr. Aesir here, I guess it'd be okay if he felt like filling you in on what happened."

"Yeah, I'm wanting to know what happened," Lynn said as she turned to face Ulfric, the firm look (that had a mild hint of worry) on her face making it clear to the foreign-born teen that he was going to have to explain things to Lynn.

"…Yeah, promise that you won't freak out too much about this," Ulfric began, "But I was basically the target for an attempted assault." Almost right away, Ulfric quickly and wisely added, "Emphasis on _attempted_."

"Someone tried to assault you?!" Lynn exclaimed right as Lincoln and the three oldest Loud girls managed to make their way through the crowd to see what was going on.

Nodding in confirmation, Ulfric explained, "A pair of boys who I'd say were both somewhat shorter than myself, if not the same height as me, tried cornering me so that they could beat me up. They both even had baseball bats with them. However, as I had explained to the nice officers here, I managed to avoid the vast majority of the two boys' attempts to hurt me, only taking the bruise under my left eye. I was able to take both of the boys' bats from them and use said bats to scare the boys off. I never actually attempted to hit them with their own weapons, seeing as how I wanted to avoid getting into any trouble."

"Do you know what those boys look like?" Lynn asked, still looking, and sounding, very much worried about her barbaric-looking love interest.

"One was somewhat dark-skinned," Ulfric began, "With his black hair usually covering his eyes, and there was even a mark under that boy's left eye. This boy also wore a somewhat darkened white shirt under a dark reddish hooded jacket, a pair of jeans, and white shoes. The second boy was more fair-skinned, had brown hair, and he wore a dark greenish shirt, a pair of jean shorts, a pair of socks and a pair of shoes."

Lynn, upon hearing the descriptions from Ulfric, had her expression go from worried to angrily scowling. Pounding a fist into her hand, the sporty Loud sister said, "I know who you're talking about, Ulfric."

With a surprised look on his face, Ulfric said, "You do?"

"You're actually familiar with the two boys who tried to assault young Mr. Aesir here?" Officer Schoffner asked, both her and her partner leaning in somewhat, expecting Lynn to fill them in on some important details.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Lynn said, "The two boys in question are named Hawk and Hank. They tried ruining a big Halloween event my family had put a lot of effort into a year or so back. We managed to chase them off and carry out our Halloween celebrations either way, but I'll still never forget, or forgive, what those two bastards tried doing, especially since they nearly ruined something my younger sister Lucy was really looking forward to."

"Hey Lynn, what's going on?" Lincoln asked as he made his way over, getting Lynn, Ulfric and both officers to turn to face him.

Gesturing to Ulfric, Lynn explained, "Those bastards Hawk and Hank tried to assault Ulfric." With a bit of a snicker, Lynn, with an obvious look of amusement on her face, added, "Key word here being _tried_."

"Hawk and Hank?" Lincoln repeated, sounding mildly worried, "Aren't they those two boys from Hazeltucky who tried to ruin Halloween for us a year or so ago?"

"They're from Hazeltucky?" the African American officer asked, looking mildly surprised. After Lincoln nodded in the affirmative, the African American officer continued, "Hey, isn't the youth football team from Hazeltucky going to go up against Royal Wood's youth football team the Roosters this Friday?"

"Yeah, they are," Schoffner confirmed to her partner, "In fact, I got a nephew playing for the roosters. He'll be in this Friday's game."

With a look of mildly grim consideration on his face, the African American officer remarked, "Call me suspicious, but I can't help but think that this was a ploy by Hazeltucky's team in an attempt to intimidate the Roosters." Shaking his head in a manner to convey disappointment, the African American officer continued, "I always knew that Hazeltucky were somewhat liberal when it came to bending or straight up breaking rules in order to get as many edges over their competition as possible, but this?" To Schoffner, the African American officer said, "We ought to bring this to the attention of people who can do something about it."

"I agree," Schoffner replied as she and her partner proceeded to head off to their car to get something, leaving the other officers on scene to look after things in the meanwhile, "I mean, those two boys already tried going after one of my nephew's teammates. I'd hate to hear of them going after my nephew himself, although you can bet that if it that happened, I'll be wanting to be the one to slap handcuffs on those two boys." After Schoffner and her partner were out of sight and earshot, Lori and the others made their way over to Lynn, Lincoln and Ulfric.

After Lynn explained things to her and Lincoln's older sisters, Luna practically exclaimed, "What the bloody hell is wrong with those two gits? First they try to ruin Halloween for us, now they try to beat up my sister's boyfriend!"

"Luckily for us," Lincoln said as he began to point things out, "Not only do the police have descriptions of Hawk and Hank, but they also have their names _and_ the general area of where they both live. It should not take them too long to get a warrant for their arrest."

Nodding in acknowledgement to Lincoln's point, Luna said, "You got me there, bro."

"Uhhg," Lori said as she involuntarily shivered, "Hearing about those two bozos trying to attack Ulfric literally has me creeped out." To her siblings, Lori said, "I say we leave and go straight home as soon as Ulfric's mom and dad get here to pick him up."

"Actually," Ulfric said as he spoke up, "I have two moms. Their names are Helga and Gilda."

With a look of mild embarrassment, Lori said, "Oops, sorry about assuming." After a minute or so of waiting, Ulfric's moms showed up and, after they both hugged their son in a manner that conveyed worry, they took Ulfric home. This left the Loud siblings to make their own way home, something all of them were grateful for.

Lynn could not help but remained worried, though.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER FOUR

Author's notes:

Well, I was able to introduce Hawk and Hank, the antagonists for this arc, although they have yet to take any significant action. I was considering adding a scene that further highlighted the respective low intelligences of Hawk and Hank, but I ultimately decided against it, mostly because I figured at this point that it's more or less common knowledge that those two are a few picnics short of a sandwich. Anywho, the next chapter will be seeing Hawk and Hank take the significant action that will be needed in order to drive Lincoln into his own action. Action that will make it clear that Lincoln isn't known as 'the man with the plan' for nothing.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter five: The Athlete and the Dweeb part two- Not as strong as you

After Lincoln, Lynn, Lori, Leni and Luna had gotten back from a trip to the store that they took, they gathered the rest of their siblings to tell them about what they came across in regards to Lynn's teammate/boyfriend Ulfric telling police about the two boys who tried (_tried_ is a big keyword here) to assault him. Lynn was talking about how she was able to, after getting a basic description from Ulfric, identify the two boys as Hawk and Hank, the two Hazeltucky natives who once tried to ruin Halloween for them.

"You have got to be kidding me," Lola said as she threw her hands up into the air, "Those two Neanderthals are back?"

Holding up a hand to cut off any arguments from the younger siblings, Lynn said, "Don't worry, girls. Thanks to Lincoln and I providing a few details when we stopped by because I saw Ulfric, the police now have everything that they need to track those two down and arrest them for the stunt that they tried to pull."

"One can only hope," Lisa remarked dryly, "I wouldn't put it past those two if they tried to hide out until they feel that things are safe for them."

"Well, those two belong to the Hockers, who will be playing against the Roosters this Friday," Lynn pointed out, "I'm betting that they are either too stupid, too prideful, or a generous mix of both to miss playing in this Friday's game."

Nodding in agreement with her older sister's point, Lisa remarked, "Those two both do seem to possess a lack of common sense. And if a warrant is put out for their arrest, which I estimate has more than a ninety-five percent chance of occurring at this point, then I would personally like to see them try to weasel their way out of the mess that they had gotten themselves into."

"Yeah, those two have pretty much shot themselves in the foot," Lynn agreed. Pounding a fist into her hand, the sporty Loud sister continued, "Furthermore, they're both lucky that I wasn't there when they tried to pull their little stunt. Otherwise, they'd both be at the hospital getting their noses fixed right now." With a hint of seriousness entering her expression, Lynn added as she cracked her knuckles, "I won't stand for those two trying to hurt Ulfric, even though they both failed at it."

Putting a hand on Lynn's shoulder, getting her to turn to face him, Lincoln said, "Lynn, I know how much Ulfric means to you, especially given how he pulled you out of the hole you fell into due to what your previous crush did." Taking his hand off of Lynn's shoulder, the sole Loud boy continued, "But there's no need to go that far in protecting or avenging someone you care for. Besides, you could wind up in serious trouble in the process."

Considering her younger brother's words for a bit, Lynn let out a breath that showed that she was ultimately relenting, conceding the point to the white-haired boy. "…You got a point, Lincoln," the sporty Loud sister remarked, "I guess that I get so worked up when some asshole screws with someone I care about, I lose most of my ability to think things through due to getting so caught up in wanting to get revenge."

The sporty Loud sibling gently shook her head, remembering back when she admittedly put herself into unnecessary danger because she followed a lead that she hoped would let her find out who it was that was responsible for her little brother nearly losing a leg. It wasn't until well after those terrorists (for lack of a better word) were all apprehended that the severity of the danger that she had put herself in hit Lynn. But her need to avenge Lincoln, as well as a little bit of guilt for how she had used him prior to a big game that was ultimately canceled, overrode anything and everything else going on in the sporty Loud sister's head.

Thankfully, everything worked out well in the end.

Sighing with a hint of resignation in her tone, Lynn said to her brother, "I guess you have a point about how I put myself out more than what's needed or what's safe for me. Sorry, Lincoln. I guess I'm not as strong as you."

Having heard their sporty sister say to someone that she isn't as strong as who she's addressing caught the other Loud sisters by surprise. Especially so since it was Lincoln who Lynn was addressing. It was commonly accepted that Lincoln was nowhere near as tough as Lynn, even before he was caught up in the attack on RWES a couple of months ago; Lincoln himself was a firm believer of him not being as tough as Lynn, hence why he generally didn't enjoy being dragged along by his athletic sister whenever she had or did a sports-related thing. So naturally, Lincoln was the most surprised to hear Lynn say that she wasn't as strong as him.

Everyone was silent for a few moments before the silence was broken, courtesy of Lori. "Wow, that was something that I literally wasn't expecting," the oldest Loud sibling remarked, "A damn shame that no one recorded that."

Giving her oldest sister a mildly annoyed glare, Lynn said, "Don't push it."

"Hey now, everyone," Luan began as she tried to lift the mood, "The point is that those two jerks failed in what they tried to pull, and with what the police was given on them, they'll be behind bars before you know it."

"Actually, Luan," Lisa began, "Given that both Hawk and Hank are minors, at best they'll be serving time at a juvenile correctional facility."

"Shouldn't they be made to work in a mine, given that you said they were miners?" Leni asked her brainy younger sister, a clearly confused look on her face.

With something of a deadpan expression, Lisa dryly remarked, "Forget that I said anything."

"Done and done," Leni replied with a smile, unaware of what her brainy younger sister truly meant.

* * *

"This is bad, dude," Hank said to Hawk as the two teens hid in an alleyway somewhere in Royal Woods, worry clear in the dark-skinned teen's tone; just a few hours previous, the duo attempted to jump and assault someone they identified as a member of the Royal Woods Roosters, hoping that their efforts would hurt the guy enough to leave him unable to play in the big football game this Friday between the Roosters and the Hazeltucky Hockers, intimidate him so that he was too freaked out to be willing to play, or a mix of both.

…However, not only did the guy they tried to jump fight back (something that Hawk and Hank NEVER expect from anyone that they target), but he was able to turn the tables on the duo pretty much right off the bat. …No pun intended, since the guy that Hawk and Hank tried to jump not only took their bats that they brought with them, but used said bats to scare the duo off. It was a good thing for Hawk and Hank that the guy that they tried to jump was apparently not interested in putting in the effort to chase them down; making them run away and leave him alone looked to be enough to satisfy him.

But the guy that Hawk and Hank tried to jump got a good look at both of them, as did a few witnesses who saw what the duo tried to do. Also, Hank brought up the fact that since both he and his friend were barehanded when they held their bats, there was a very good chance that there were fingerprints on the bats that the police could use to identify them. It was clear that Hawk and Hank were cursing their stupidity.

"This never would have happened if the Roosters behaved themselves and stayed bad so that the Hockers can beat them every time the two teams played each other," Hawk pointed out, "But no! The Roosters just _had_ to get good! They just _had_ to actually threaten the Hockers' perfect streak against them! It sucks because now our coach is actually having to make us _practice_ for a game against the Roosters!"

"Not only that," Hank chimed in, "But our chance to win it big time with all of those bets is in serious danger! Not only is there a very real chance that the Roosters will beat the Hockers, but the two of us might go bankrupt because of it!"

Hawk snapped, "Damn it!" before he turned around to punch the nearest thing with his left fist in order to relieve some pent-up anger at his and Hank's situation. However, said object was the brick wall that made up part of the building that made up one side of the alleyway the duo were in. As Hawk yelled while cradling his injured hand, Hank quickly ran over and covered his companion's mouth.

"Dude, hush!" the dark-skinned teen hissed as loudly as he dared, "The cops are probably out there looking for us! Loud noises like that will draw their attention to us!"

Choking back as much screaming as he could, Hawk tried to simmer down. "…Look," Hank said, "We're going to have to sneak our way back to the hideout we have here in Royal Woods so we can recover from our injuries and reorganize our plan of action. It's not like we have much of a choice in the matter anyhow." Gesturing to Hawk's hand, Hank added, "We might have to get some ice on that hand."

The brown-haired teen, albeit somewhat reluctantly, nodded in agreement with his friend as he and Hank proceeded to make their way out of the alleyway so that they could sneak their way back to their Royal Woods hideout, as they both have their respective wounds to lick. This was not a very enjoyable day for either of them.

* * *

The following day, Lincoln had accompanied Lori over to the Santiago-Casagrande residence. The large (not as much so as the Louds, though) Hispanic family had comfortably settled into life in Royal Woods; it was feeling like the Casagrandes were always there, and that the Santiagos had never moved away in the first place. When Lincoln and Lori arrived, they were greeted by Carlota, who answered the door.

"Bobby and Ronnie Anne are out picking up some stuff for later," Carlota explained, "They'll be back soon, though."

"Dang it," Lori said, "I can't believe that I missed my Boo-Boo Bear."

Inviting the two Loud siblings inside, Carlota said, "Well other than that, how have things been going for you both?" To Lori specifically, Carlota added, "I heard that those two _putas_ Bianca and Sooyoung were totally roasted on social media."

Hearing that reminder out of Carlota made the oldest Loud sibling chuckle a bit in an amused manner. "Yeah, it was literally satisfying to see them completely embarrassed," Lori said, "It was so big that pretty much everyone forgot how I was embarrassed myself."

"Yeah," Carlota remarked in a tone of agreement, "It's like you were never embarrassed in the first place." As the two seventeen-year-old girls proceeded to talk amongst themselves about that subject, Lincoln went unnoticed. However, Lincoln was perfectly content with listening to the conversation between Lori and Carlota. Seeing Lori happy made the sole Loud boy feel really happy. After what Lori went through a short while ago, Lincoln felt that she deserved to have a bone thrown to her.

Not, of course, that anyone had to know that it was HIM who threw Lori that bone.

Lincoln was about to finally say something, but before he could speak, he was cut off when the door behind him and Lori opened, revealing that Bobby and Ronnie Anne had returned from their little trip, carrying bags of grindage. "Oh, I wasn't expecting to see you guys here," Bobby greeted Lori and Lincoln as he and Ronnie Anne entered the house. After he and Ronnie Anne sat the bags on the table in the dining room, Bobby said to Lori, "What brings you by, Babe?"

"Are you aware of how two boys from Hazeltucky tried to assault my sister Lynn's boyfriend?" Lori asked.

"Wait a minute," Ronnie Anne interrupted, getting Lori to turn to regard her, "Someone went after that Aesir fellow?"

"They _tried_, Ronnie Anne," Lori clarified, emphasizing 'tried', "Ulfric fought them off and told the police about what happened."

Nodding in understanding, Bobby said, "Yeah, yeah I know about that incident." With a curious look, Bobby asked, "What about it, though?"

"The two jerks who tried to assault Ulfric," Lori began to explain, "They're those Hawk and Hank fellows who I told you about that one time around Halloween." Gesturing to Bobby, the oldest Loud sister continued, "You still have the photo I sent you, right?"

Nodding once in the affirmative, Bobby took his phone out and brought up some pictures. Turning his phone around to show what was on the screen, Lori and Lincoln both saw a picture of Hawk and Hank apparently trying to pick up a garbage can and shove it down over the head of some hapless victim. It should be noted that in the photo, Lynn and some of her friends from one of her sports teams could be seen charging at Hawk and Hank from the side, apparently aiming to stop the two overgrown jerks.

Nodding once in a satisfied manner, Lori said, "Good. Anyway, those two might literally still be somewhere in Royal Woods, so keep an eye out for them."

"And report them to the police as soon as I see either of them?" Bobby asked more than suggested, drawing another nod out of his girlfriend.

"Good," Lori said, "Anywho, on to the main reason I came over." Lori walked over to Bobby, put her arms around his shoulders, and then drew him closer before planting a kiss on his lips.

As the two teenagers proceeded to make out, Carlota gushed at how cute Lori and Bobby were together. Ronnie Anne, for her part, decided to take Lincoln to the den to play video games. "I'd much rather kill some zombies or robots or whatever than watch your sister French my brother," the Hispanic tomboy said to Lincoln as they made their way to the den.

Lincoln, with an indifferent shrug, remarked, "I can't really blame you."

* * *

Lynn was still very much upset with the attempted assault on her boyfriend Ulfric, even though 'attempted' is still very much a keyword here. What the sporty Loud sister would give to have a shot at tracking down those two brutes Hawk and Hank so that she could give the two of them a piece of her mind.

Who cares if she'd be outnumbered two-to-one against opponents that were both bigger than her? Lynn didn't care, just in case one was wondering. Not only was Lynn in notably good physical shape, but she also practiced martial arts, AND she knew that if it came down to it, she could make some very cheap yet _very_ effective shots on Hawk and Hank.

As the sporty Loud sister was walking around, she suddenly felt herself get dragged off to the side and into an alleyway. After being thrown against a pile of garbage bags, Lynn regained enough sense of herself to see that the people who dragged her off to the side were Hawk and Hank, the very people she was looking for.

The sporty Loud sister did not care for the sneak attack tactics of the two Neanderthals standing before her, but she was ultimately happy to have found them. After all, she _was_ wanting to give the two of them a piece of her mind. However, just as she finished standing herself back up, Lynn found herself kicked in the stomach with a foot-slam from Hank. From that, Lynn believed that these two weren't going to be giving her any chance to fight back if they could help it.

So she decided to make sure that they _wouldn_'_t_ be able to help it.

"_So_," Lynn thought bitterly and in an annoyed manner, "_THAT_'_S how these two want to play thing here, huh_?" Hawk moved to slug Lynn across the left side of her face, but the sporty Loud sister did a quick twirl with her right leg sticking out, knocking Hawk's legs out from underneath him and making him stumble somewhat towards Hank, distracting the dark-skinned teen. With the few seconds of freedom she earned by doing that, Lynn got back up onto her feet and went for Hank straight away.

With her right hand curled into a fist, Lynn dealt a backhanded strike across the right side of Hank's face, striking the side of his nose hard enough to feel something that wasn't hers break. As Hank stumbled back a bit while cradling his now bleeding nose, Lynn quickly turned on Hawk, who was still trying to straighten himself out after Lynn had made him lose balance.

Not wanting to give the brown-haired teen a shot, Lynn immediately went for a cheap shot on Hawk. Lynn's aim with her left foot was true, and as such she scored a critical hit on Hawk's hidden treasure. Hawk, while trying to cover his injured number from further assault while, fell over near instantly onto the very pile of garbage bags that Lynn was previously thrown into.

"Ha!" Lynn said as she pointed and laughed at the downed Hawk, "And there's plenty more where that came from, you fat pompous-" Lynn was cut off when Hank, who recovered enough to aim for another go, bear-hugged Lynn from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. "Hey, let me go!" the sporty Loud sister exclaimed.

"Like hell I will!" Hank snapped back, "Hey, Hawk! I got her pinned! You wanna take a few free shots at her?"

Hawk, with a hint of amusement entering his otherwise entirely pained expression, said after struggling to stand himself back up, "Sure thing." The brown-haired teen took a few steps towards where Hank was binding Lynn. But before he could get within distance to punch Lynn in the face, Hawk's hands immediately went back to covering his injured number before Hawk himself fell over again. Lynn, despite the situation she was finding herself in, could not help but let out a chuckle at the sight of Hawk failing to get back at her.

"Fine, I'll cover you share for you," Hank remarked to his downed friend before throwing Lynn into the nearest obstacle, which was a traditional metal trashcan, the one that comes with a lid with a handle, and said lid can be used as a makeshift shield. After Lynn fell to the ground after colliding with that trash can, Hank rushed up to her while she was still prone. Hank's ensuing assault on Lynn gave her the impression that things here were not going to be ending on a very pleasant manner.

* * *

Over at the Loud family residence, the three oldest Loud sisters, along with Lincoln, were entertaining the three oldest Ace siblings. "Aye, I've had a run in with those two before," Allison remarked when the subject of the currently at-large Hawk and Hank were brought up, "I was out taking Fenrir for a walk, and I had the case that holds Yonfour on my back, and then those two come up and start giving me trouble, saying they'll back off if I pay them some money. Fenrir and I wouldn't be having any of that, so we both gave those two trolls a piece of our minds."

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lori said, "I literally can't believe how dumb those two jerks are, trying to assault someone who is not only armed with a golf club, but is also accompanied by a rather large and powerful dog." Luan, and to a lesser extent Lincoln, could not help but chuckle a bit over the humor of Hawk and Hank trying to harass Allison and her Tibetan Mastiff. It was a good story that just further went to prove that Hawk and Hank shared about a quarter of a brain cell between the two of them.

Lincoln figured that if Hawk and Hank had more brain cells than that, then they might have had a chance of actually being a threat.

As Aggro was about to go into a story about something he and Bobby had done previously, the Loud siblings' dad, Lynn Sr., rushed in, looking a bit panicked. Spotting his children with a few friends, the Loud patriarch was relieved, if only just. "Lori, I need you to keep an eye on things here for the time being," Lynn Sr. said, his tone entirely serious.

The seriousness in Lynn Sr.'s tone was picked up on by Lori and the others right away. "What's going on, dad?" Lori asked.

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lynn Sr. explained, "I have to go with your mother over to Royal Woods General. From what I was told over the phone, a pair of thugs dragged one of your sisters into an alleyway and roughed her up. It nothing bad enough to warrant an overnight stay, mind you, but your mom and I will have to be there when the police ask your sister for a statement." When the Loud family patriarch finished his explanation, everyone at the table was alarmed.

"One of our sisters was assaulted?!" Luna nearly exclaimed, "Do you know who it was?"

Gently shaking his head in the negative, Lynn Sr. replied, "Not yet, although you might be able to eliminate candidates by checking in with your siblings over the phone."

"Everyone aside from myself, Leni, Luna and Lincoln are off doing their own thing," Lori pointed out, "It will literally take a while to call to call all of them up."

"I believe that the Goth is hanging out with Argent and that Rocky boy right now, if that helps," Allison remarked as she turned to face Lori.

After Lynn Sr. left to go to Royal Woods General, Lori immediately whipped out her phone, but as she was halfway through dialing up the first number (Luan's), the oldest Loud sister stopped short when she and the others heard Lincoln say, "I think it might have been Lynn."

The teenagers all turned to regard the sole Loud boy, curious looks on their respective faces. "…What makes you say that, Lincoln-kun?" Aggro asked.

"Dad said there were two thugs," Lincoln began, "Lynn's boyfriend Ulfric was almost assaulted by Hawk and Hank, who it goes without saying can be considered as thugs. Lynn said that she was looking to get some payback on Hawk and Hank." With a concerned look on his face, the white-haired boy continued with a gentle shake of his head, "I hate to say it, but it wouldn't be too much out of character for Lynn to go about tracking down Hawk and Hank anyway, but ended up biting off more than she could chew."

Sighing, Lori remarked, "That does literally sound like Lynn, alright. Okay, we're going to check up on Lynn first." Lori, with the other teens helping her, proceeded to take out their cell phones to make some calls, with Lori calling Lynn's number first. As the teens did their work, Lincoln hoped like hell that he was wrong about Lynn.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER FIVE

Author's notes:

To be completely honest, this chapter took me a while to get through due to the bane of all people who practice the craft of the written word; writer's block. But once that messy business cleared up, I was able to finish this chapter off. Now I can get to work on chapter six, which I already have a few good ideas for.

Also, before I hear any complaints, this will be the ONLY arc where the sister in question needs any degree of treatment at the hospital. It will also be the ONLY arc where Lincoln looks into having physical violence dealt to the antagonists in question. However, the revenge will still be as proportional as Lincoln can manage; remember what I said about overkill here.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter six: The Athlete and the Dweeb part three- Under Ladder

As Lincoln had predicted, Lynn was the sister who needed treatment at the hospital due to getting into a rather nasty scrape. Thankfully, the sporty Loud sister only needed a small stitch on an area that wouldn't even be visible, as well as a gauze bandage and a quick check-over. Lynn returned home about an hour and forty-five minutes after she was treated. Rather than be frightened over what happened, Lynn was practically out for blood.

"Those stupid cowards," Lynn growled angrily as she pounded a fist into her hand, "They only got away with what they did because they pulled a sneak attack. I'll be ready for them first thing tomorrow morning!" Her expression taking on a bit of a sinister hint, the sporty Loud sister added, "Let's see how they do when I come at them with some of my teammates as backup!"

"Lynn, you literally need to take a chill pill," Lori remarked, "Besides, there is no way you're going to go out to find Hawk and Hank. Not only are you in no shape to go in for another round, but you'll be getting yourself into some trouble."

The other Loud siblings, aside from baby Lily who was put down for a nap, all agreed with what the oldest among their number just said. "Besides which," Lincoln added as he spoke up, "Who's to say that you won't get beaten worse than what happened?" With a bit of a concerned look on his face, the sole Loud boy added, "I say that you seriously ought to let the police do their thing, Lynn. They can cover things from here."

"Even though the police have yet to track those two brutes down," Lisa remarked, "And since they got away with two instances of carrying out assault, one of which was actually successful, this shows that the police are having more trouble than they should."

"I say that a manhunt ought to be started up to track down those two," Lola declared rather confidiently as she stood up from where she was sitting on the floor during the sibling meeting in Lori and Leni's room, "We can get all of our friends in on it!"

"We can even bring along some of the dogs we respectively own, to help track down Hawk and Hank by scent," Lana added, "We can bring Charles, Lori's friend Carol can bring her Corgi, Bobby and Ronnie Anne can bring Lalo, Anna's older sister can bring Fenrir-"

Holding up a hand to get Lola and Lana to stop, Lori said as the rest of the Loud siblings all focused on her, "First off, what you're suggesting is more or less vigilantism." Looking at Lana in particular, Lori continued, "Second off Lana, all of those people, as well as the four or so dogs, would be total overkill. Lincoln has a point about how we ought to let the police handle things from here."

"But as soon as they do something, they go right back into hiding," Luan pointed out, "They're being impossible to track down and capture!"

As the sibling meeting continued, Lincoln was contemplating the situation as a whole. Hawk and Hank were responsible for a number of misdeeds, and that was _before_ this whole mess involving Lynn and various members of her football team. They are also being surprisingly competent when it comes to avoiding the police; they might even decide to skip out on playing in the game this Friday, if they figure that police might be waiting there to capture them. That all being said, the sole Loud boy began to think.

How can Hawk and Hank be tricked out their cautious mindset?

Although they _have_ been displaying more intelligence than they have been known for, there is still no denying the fact that Hawk and Hank are still rather dumb. It should be easy enough to trick the two of them into going head first into a trap from which they cannot get out of, especially if one decided to exploit the boys' greed. However, one would need to have a few things; one, know where to find Hawk and Hank, two, a good trap to capture them with, and three, know enough about Hawk and Hank in order to push the right buttons so that they would go into said trap.

As he gave it some thought, Lincoln already had number three taken care of, and he was working with a very good candidate for number two. The problem that the white-haired boy found himself facing at the moment was how to cross the first item off the list; Hawk and Hank were being impossible to find as they were trying to avoid being picked up by police, so one would have to be lucky in (or in Lynn's case since she was taken by surprise, unlucky) to find them.

This was going to be tougher than Lincoln thought.

* * *

The following morning, which was the day before the football game between the Royal Woods Roosters and the Hazeltucky Hockers, Lincoln was out for a stroll. To the white-haired boy's surprise (and mild delight), he was joined by Ronnie Anne, who was taking Lalo, her extended family's Mastiff, out for a walk. "Yeah, that sounds like a tactic that the jerks from Hazeltucky would resort to," the Hispanic tomboy remarked as Lincoln filled her in on what happened, "I still can't believe that the sports teams in Hazeltucky are allowed to get away with all of the crap that they've pulled."

"Yeah, I'm surprised as well," Lincoln replied in a tone of agreement. As Ronnie Anne stopped because Lalo decided to sniff at a fire hydrant, Lincoln, who saw that Ronnie Anne was not paying attention, was able to rub the side of his left leg, clearly trying to sooth some pain that he was feeling; even after all this time since the attack on RWES, Lincoln's left leg was still giving him some bother.

Lincoln finished trying to massage the pain in his leg before the Queen of Pain turned back around to face him. "You know, what your younger sisters the twins said sounds like a rather appealing idea," Ronnie Anne began, "A full-blown manhunt with no less than-"

"Yeah, Lori immediately shot down the idea," Lincoln interrupted, "And if I know Bobby like I think I do, he'll also shoot the idea down and take Lori's side on this."

With a sigh, Ronnie Anne shrugged and said, "You got me there, Lincoln. Anywho, we ought to be heading-" Ronnie Anne was cut off when Lalo, who spotted a cat, barked angrily at it before giving chase, making the cat run off and making Lalo want to chase it down even more. Ronnie Anne, who had a very good grasp on the end of Lalo's leash, was mercilessly dragged along for the ride; as tough as the Queen of Pain may be, she is still an eleven-year-old girl who is in the fifth grade, and she's walking a full grown Mastiff, a dog that very easily outweighs her.

As he saw Ronnie Anne cry out in alarm, screaming for Lalo to stop, Lincoln figured that he'd try to give chase. But a random surge of pain in his left leg make him stop dead in his tracks. Once again, Lincoln's leg reminded him that, regardless of what he may want, he is not in any condition to be going on any sprints. Silver lining to his situation was that Lincoln wasn't being forced to take part in any sports anymore, and also Lynn has effectively stopped using him as a 'sports partner', instead only using him for non-strenuous help, such as having him manage the scoreboard during some practice with friends.

As Lincoln tried to massage the pain in his left leg again, he overheard the jingle of a small business store's front door open from a bit behind him. Turning around, the white-haired boy saw two kids in the fourth grade (he saw them at RWES before, but did not know their names) come out of a candy store. The kids, a slim Caucasian boy with shoulder-length dishwater blonde hair and an African American girl who was slightly chubby and had curly twin pigtails, were both carrying small brown paper bags. Lincoln saw the ends of a few large-sized chocolate bars peek out from the tops of the bags that the kids held.

"You think this will be enough for them?" the boy asked his companion, clearly sounding worried about something.

"I did the math," the girl replied as she turned to face the boy, "There's enough among what we got so that those two boys would have at least seven bars each."

"I hope that they haven't harmed Scampers," the boy of the pair replied as he and his companion began to walk away, "How would we explain to the rest of our fourth grade class that the class pet chinchilla was beaten?"

After the boy and the girl were out of earshot, Lincoln gave what he heard and saw some thought. He was aware that one of the fourth grade classes at RWES had a class pet chinchilla named Scampers; Lincoln was friends with Ronnie Anne's bestie Astrid Ace, whose younger brother Andy was in the fourth grade, and Andy mentioned how his class had a chinchilla as a class pet. So the part concerning Scampers the chinchilla checked out.

Lincoln then gave some consideration to the ends of large chocolate bars he saw peek out from the brown paper bags, as well as what the two fourth graders said about how they hoped that they had gotten enough chocolate bars, out of fear that the two boys that they were getting the candy for might beat Scampers the chinchilla.

This had Hawk and Hank written all over it. Lincoln could just tell.

As Lincoln was giving what he had discovered some thought, Ronnie Anne came back, more or less pulling Lalo behind her. The Queen of Pain was clearly frazzled from her little adventure with the overly enthusiastic Mastiff just now. "H-Hey Lincoln," Ronnie Anne said, her tone making it clear she was close to her limit before getting exhausted, "I think that we ought to be heading back now."

"There's something that I want to check out on my own," the white-haired boy replied, the hint of suspicion in his tone going by undetected by Ronnie Anne, "I'll see you in a bit." Too tired to argue, Ronnie Anne allowed Lincoln to do his own thing. As she walked away, Ronnie Anne muttered something to herself about calling her folks to come pick her and Lalo up, as she was just that frazzled from the stunt that Lalo pulled.

Big dogs can be big problems.

* * *

Having picked up a thing or two from Lucy about going unnoticed, Lincoln successfully trailed the two fourth grade kids, despite his left leg still causing him a mild amount of discomfort. Eventually, Lincoln trailed the two kids to a small one-room shack in the woods; it was roughly twice the size of a fairly large metal shed that one would occasionally see in the backyard of some houses.

The boy of the pair knocked on the door of the shack, and sure enough, Lincoln saw Hank answer the door. Lincoln was too far away to clearly hear that was going on, but the white-haired boy got the gist of the situation when Hank disappeared back into the shack briefly, only to return a few seconds later holding a small pet cage, big enough for one small animal, and inside said cage was a single chinchilla, which was white in color.

Lincoln watched as the boy of the fourth grade pair set both of the bags of chocolate (he was carrying both bags at that point) down at Hank's feet while the girl of the pair received the chinchilla from Hank, who immediately picked up the bags of chocolate that were set down. The two fourth graders, with the chinchilla now in their possession, were all too happy to take their leave, doing so as Hank went back into the shack, closing the door behind him.

Lincoln was disgusted, but not surprised, by what he had just witnessed; Hawk and Hank had apparently kidnapped the class pet of one of the fourth grade classes at RWES, and held it for ransom, demanding of two of the kids from the fourth grade class in question to bring them enough chocolate bars to satisfy their sweet tooth. However, Lincoln was also feeling rather lucky, as he had not only found Hawk and Hank's location, but it looked like a place that they were hiding out at, and unlikely to change on a moment's notice.

The two fourth graders also looked too frightened by the whole ordeal to rat out the location, and it seemed like Hank was counting on that from the look of things; Lincoln did hear from Lynn how she struck Hawk in his holy land hard enough to effectively cripple him for the remainder of her two-on-one bout against him and Hank yesterday. Did she do more damage than what was at first assumed?

Lincoln figured, as he turned around to head back home to get ready for his plan that he would be finding that out later tonight.

…

"We ought to rest up, man," Hank said to Hawk, who was sitting in a recliner in their shack hideout in the woods, "We have that game against the Roosters tomorrow."

"I was thinking that we ought to skip playing in tomorrow's game," Hawk said; his voice sounded mildly pained, as well as somewhat higher than normal. Think sort of like a squeaky toy. "I mean, what if the police are there waiting for us?" Hawk continued.

"We're from Hazeltucky, not Royal Woods," the dark-skinned teen pointed out, "The local fuzz hear have no jurisdiction over us. At worst, all they can do is send us back to Hazeltucky, and since we didn't do anything illegal in Hazeltucky, we won't get in trouble."

Considering his friend's words, Hawk realized that it was a very good point. "I don't suppose you can get another ice pack for me, could you?" Hawk asked, "That girl we ambushed really did a number on me."

Looking at his friend in a mildly concerned manner, Hank asked, "You going to be okay, man? Can you at least still play?"

After taking a breath, Hawk said, "I feel like I should be recovered enough by tomorrow morning. As it stands, I can probably walk around well enough right now." With a gentle shake of his head, Hawk added, "But right now, I am in no condition to be playing foot-" Hawk was cut off when he and Hank heard a knocking on the door to their shack hideout. Hank, with Hawk getting up to follow him, went to see who it was.

To their surprise, as well as their mild annoyance, Hawk and Hank saw that there wasn't anybody there. Scoffing in an annoyed tone, Hank said, "Must have been the wind." Closing the door, Hank said as he and Hawk turned back around, "There's no way that it could have been someone like those kids from earlier, or the police."

"Well then," a mysterious male voice neither Hawk nor Hank recognized spoke out, making both brutish teens jumped a bit, "It's a good thing that I'm neither a little kid OR a member of the police." Hawk and Hank looked around their shack hideout, and it was Hawk who first spotted the person that surprised them.

It was, out of all the potential people, a kid, to the complete and total surprise of Hawk and Hank, who were both expecting someone around their age, judging by the tone of the voice. This mystery kid wore a baggy jacket with a somewhat large hood that kept his head perfectly covered in shadow. He also wore a black bandana over the lower half of their face. The kid also wore a somewhat baggy pair of jeans, sneakers, and a pair of light brown leather gloves.

This mystery kid was actually Lincoln, although Hawk and Hank had no idea of that, especially since Lincoln was using a mini voice changer (a gift from Lisa who thought Lincoln would like it to pull an occasional prank on Luan if her own pranks go too far) attached to a black leather choker (a gift from Lucy; the gothic and brainy Loud sisters combined their respective gifts into a single accessory, a late joint birthday gift to Lincoln from them) to disguise his voice, making him sound much older than he was in reality.

"Who the hell are you?" Hank demanded, "And how the hell did you find us?"

Holding up a hand to cut off any argument, the disguised Lincoln said, "I found you guys by trailing a pair of kids who aroused my suspicion when I overheard what they said. They had no idea I was even there." His eyes, the only visible part of his body, were able to express a feeling of being impressed. "From what I overheard those two kids say, they were cowed by a pair of rather capable guys," Lincoln went on, "Capable guys that my friends and I in our gang are very much interested in having join our little club. And I'm sure that the both of you would likewise be very much interested in joining us."

Hawk and Hank both took pause due to hearing what this mystery kid before them said; a member of some local gang in Royal Woods not only trailed the two brats from earlier without being seen, but also observed enough from what he saw/heard to believe that his gang would be interested in recruiting them? Before either of the teens could say anything, the mystery kid continued with what he was going on about.

"From what I saw," the mystery kid said, "There was some sort of silvery objects sticking out from the bags that the boy handed to you guys in exchange for that small animal in the cage that you handed off." His eyes expressing a mild amount of curiosity, the mystery kid continued, "What exactly did those kids from earlier give you?"

"About fourteen xl-sized chocolate bars," Hank replied.

"Hmm…" the disguised Lincoln said, his hidden voice changer making him sound like a mature, intelligent teen gang member considering something, "…The two of you are playing too small of a game right now."

"Small game?" Hawk replied in surprise, a slight hint of pained squeaking in his tone.

Nodding twice in a calm, confident manner, the disguised Lincoln said, "Holding a small pet ransom in return for enough chocolate to evenly distribute between the two of you? Sure, you two will get some value from using tactics like that, but if you only play the small game, you'll only be getting so far." Crossing his arms over his chest, the disguised Lincoln added, "Join the gang I belong to, and you'll achieve things that are far out of your reach right now."

"You still didn't tell us who you are," Hawk said, still a bit suspicious of the mystery kid before him and his friend.

With a bit of a self-amused chuckle, the disguised Lincoln said, "The members of the gang that are below me simply call me dude. But the members of the gang that are above me call me by the nickname that our leader gave me." Giving Hawk and Hank a knowing, self-amused look, the disguised Lincoln said, "Under Ladder."

Both of the teens had confused looks on their respective faces. "Under Ladder?" Hank repeated, clearly sounding confused, "The hell kind of a nickname is that?"

"It reflects the fact that I've been known to cause those who screw with the gang to have a good bit of bad luck," the disguised Lincoln explained, "And as many people know, walking under a ladder is one of the ways that's believed to cause bad luck."

"If you're know to give the enemies of your gang bad luck," Hawk began, "Then why not pick a different nickname that reflects that, such as Black Cat?"

"Or Spilled Salt?" Hank suggested.

"Or Broken Mirror?" Hawk suggested.

Giving the brown-haired teen a curious look, the disguised Lincoln said, "That last one sounds kind of weird." To the teens as a pair, the disguised Lincoln continued, "Anyway, the nickname was given to me by the leader of my gang. It was not something I came up with myself. But if the notion really has the two of you confused, you can go over that with the leader later." Giving Hawk and Hank a knowing look, the disguised Lincoln added, "Assuming, of course, that the two of you are both in."

The two teens both turned to face each other, as if expecting one another to help clarify a few things. As Hawk and Hank looked at each other while internally debating what to do here, the mystery kid before them decided to say one last thing.

"You guys will be getting a fair share of our gang's income should you join," the disguised Lincoln pointed out, "And no one will stop you from using the gang's influence to make some kids do what those two kids from earlier did. However, keep in mind that any kids you coerce into doing candy runs for you will be bringing you MORE candy. After all, you would be using the influence of the gang to your advantage."

More chocolate? That was all Hawk and Hank needed to hear. Turning to face the mystery kid before them, Hawk and Hank said that they were both in. "When do we do our first run, Under Ladder?" Hank asked.

"Before you two can do any actual work for the gang," Under Ladder began, "You first have to prove that you really are assets to the gang. Sorry, but it's the leader's orders."

Hawk and Hank looked to each other for a few brief moments before turning around again to face Under Ladder. "Fair enough," Hawk said, "So, what's the test?"

* * *

Hawk, Hank and 'Under Ladder' were in an alleyway that ran between the backyards of two rows of houses in the residential part of Royal Woods. Stopping behind a fence that had a 'Beware of Dog' sign on the fence's gate, the disguised Lincoln said, "The family living here is pretty damn loaded, especially since the mom of the family regularly splurges on getting large chocolate bars for the kids. We're going to sneak in, see what small valuable things we can get away with, then sneak back out before we're caught."

"Sounds like a pretty risky plan," Hawk, who at this point had recovered just enough to actually participate, remarked, "And what about this 'Beware of Dog' sign?"

"Bigger payoffs come with bigger risks in order to get them," the disguised Lincoln replied casually, "And I know enough about this family to know that the dog in question is actually just a Teacup Chihuahua. No way will it pose a threat to us."

With a concerned look on his face, Hank said, "Those little bastards can get pretty loud."

Turning to face Hank, Under Ladder point out, "Given it's some small lap pet, the family's teenage daughter undoubtedly has it in her room, sleeping on a small pet bed on the floor. So long as we're all quiet, the dog and the family will not even know we're here."

"He does have a point on how teenage girls like to baby little dogs like that," Hawk said to his friend, who nodded in agreement. After Lincoln picked the lock on the back fence's gate by using some sort of specialized lock picking gun (handmade by Lisa, who made it as part of an experiment she did to figure out the extent of Leni's amazing lock picking skills), he and the two teens quietly made their way up to the sliding glass door that led into the house, walking past some sort of large enclosed caged area that was clearly set up for some sort of domestic animal; both Hawk and Hank thought that it was for the family's little dog.

The sliding glass door was locked, but Lincoln managed to open a small window near the sliding glass door and enter the house that way, making no noise at all. Going to the sliding glass door, the disguised boy carefully unlocked and opened it, letting Hawk and Hank inside. "Remember, boys," Under Ladder said, "Be absolutely quiet. Now, let's look for some valuables to steal."

"Whoa, this family really MUST be loaded," Hawk remarked in amazement, "This kitchen area is way fancier than anything that I was expecting."

"Hey Hawk," Hank said as he stood in front of an open cabinet, "Under Ladder was right about the family's mom splurging on her kids to get candy. There's a lot of chocolate bars in here!" Looking around a bit more, Hank's eyes fell upon where a few cups and other such drinking implements were sitting in a rack next to the sink. Noticing something among the cups, Hank went over and picked up one of the items he saw.

"Hey, it's one of those fancy cylindrical Japanese tea cups," Hank remarked. As he held the Japanese tea cup (a _yunomi_), Hank spotted something else among the cups in the drying rack; a Viking drinking horn. "Dude," Hank said as he pointed to what he saw, "Someone in this family has an actual Viking drinking horn!"

"Seriously?" Hawk said as he walked over. Seeing the drinking horn, Hawk said, "Oh that is just awesome!" The brown-haired teen reached for the drinking horn, eager to check it out. However, the instant Hawk's right hand came into contact with the drinking horn, both he and Hank heard the growling of a dog. Not a Teacup Chihuahua, as what was suggested by Under Ladder, but the growling of something _FAR_ bigger. Turing around, the two teens saw the source of the growling, standing between them and the sliding glass door, their only escape route.

It was a full-grown Tibetan Mastiff.

"Oh shit," Hank said as he carefully placed the Japanese teacup he held back where he got it from. Similarly, Hawk instinctively took his hand away from the Viking drinking horn that he was touching. The very large dog was growling at the two teens, clearly seeing them as threats that needed to be dealt with. "N-Nice doggy," Hank said nervously, "Good d-doggy. No need to go and wake up the family, dog-"

Hank was cut off when the Tibetan Mastiff proceeded to let out a series of loud, booming barks, with a few snarls mixed in. "Fuck!" Hawk exclaimed, "Hey, Under Ladder dude, you, me and Hank need to bail, like, now!" Looking around for their ticket to bigger and better things in the local gang, Hawk saw that Under Ladder had not only disappeared, but the window he used to enter the house was closed. Hawk also saw that the sliding glass door was closed and locked.

"Dude, we have to go out the front!" Hawk said to his friend, "The rear's locked and guarded by this big ass dog that looks like it want to-"

"INTRUDERS!" a loud and angry female voice exclaimed, "HAVE AT THEE, FOUL VILLAINS!" Hawk and Hank both turned to see an older teenage girl standing there, her blonde hair in long twin pigtails that fell down over her back; this girl wore only a pair of gray sleep pants and a sleep tank-top that was dark blue and had six silvery circles on it, which were in two rows of three that went up and down. The teenage girl was also wielding a four-iron golf club.

"Oh shit!" Hawk and Hank exclaimed in unison, and the former additionally cried out when he was tackled to the floor by the Tibetan Mastiff. When the teenaged girl swung at Hank, her sideways swing going over his head, two more teens entered the kitchen area; one was a somewhat younger teen girl carrying a wooden staff, and the other a boy around the same age as the first girl; the teenaged boy had a bokken.

"Allison, who the hell are these two?" the teenaged boy demanded as he and the girl who came with him proceeded to help the first girl and her dog surround Hawk and Hank.

"Intruders who thought it would be in good fun to try and rob us!" the first girl, apparently named Allison from what Hawk and Hank observed, remarked, "But don't worry, because Fenrir and I have this one covered!"

As the other girl in the kitchen went about contacting police while the two remaining teens and the dog kept Hawk and Hank occupied, Hawk and Hank, as they heard the rest of the household starting to wake up, recognized that Allison girl as the girl that they tried to shake down a while ago, only to fail when she and her dog retaliated; likewise, they recognized the Tibetan Mastiff that had Hawk pinned as the dog from that day. As the Ace family proceeded to be aware of the two intruders who broke in and were caught by Allison and Fenrir, the disguised Lincoln, who had escaped before Fenrir first noticed Hawk and Hank, could hear the noise of what was going on from behind the Ace family's backyard fence.

It was Lincoln who closed the window he used to enter the Ace family residence, after he closed and locked the sliding glass door. Lincoln, after escaping into the alleyway, closed the fence's gate back up, put the lock back on, then shoved a sofa abandoned in the alleyway in front of the fence's gate for good measure. The white-haired boy felt bad about using friends of his and his siblings like this, but given what some of the Ace siblings would do if they caught a pair of teen intruders in their house in the middle of the night, Lincoln figured that it would be best to trick Hawk and Hank into breaking in.

Besides, it was just Hawk and Hank. The Aces were never in any danger at all.

* * *

The following morning, as the Loud siblings had breakfast, they heard about Hawk and Hank trying to break into and rob the Ace residence. As per usual, 'trying to' is a key phrase here; not only were the two boys caught, but they were unable to escape due to Fenrir alerting the rest of the family and cutting off the boys' escape route. Allison, followed shortly by Aggro and Amy, came down to see why Fenrir was making so much noise, and thus proceeded to help Allison take care of things.

It goes without saying that Hawk and Hank were arrested when the police came. But before they were taken to the station for booking, Hawk and Hank both needed some treatment over at Royal Woods General. Hank took a serious left hook to his right eye from 'that crazy girl with the golf club' as he called her, whereas Hawk, who was laying on the floor face up, needed some minor stitches on his fingers and part of his left hand, and he was using his hands to keep the large dog from biting his face.

From what Lincoln was able to gather, the two boys collectively suffered roughly the same amount that they gave to Lynn, just with a few more stitches to show for it.

"Well one thing is for certain," Lori said to her siblings as they all ate breakfast, "Those two are literally not going to be getting out of this one."

"And since they were both members of the Hazeltucky Hockers, this arrest ought to put a damper on the spirits of the rest of the team," Luna remarked, "That damper will sour their mood, and will most likely make them play not as well as they usually would. As such, Lynn and her team should have an easier time during today's game."

"Oh heck yeah," Lynn said, getting her siblings to all turn to face her. "Those jerks thought that they could ruin my team's chances of winning, but in the end all they did served to screw their own team over. As if today's game wasn't already going to be enough of a cakewalk for me and the rest of my team."

Chuckling a bit, Lincoln could not help but find Lynn's attitude amusing; not even what happened to her a few days ago served to put Lynn down, and now she was rearing to go for the big football game later today. The sole Loud boy figured that, with a girl like Lynn on their team, the Royal Wood Roosters were going to be going places.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER SIX

Author's notes:

And with that, Lynn's arc has come to a close. Sorry if what happened to Hawk and Hank came across as a bit much to some of you, but I tried to clarify that the worst they got was bumps and bruised comparable to what they gave to Lynn, plus them getting arrested; I was never aiming to give them anything beyond that.

Anywho, I'm trying to figure out what to do for most of the sisters that haven't gone yet; Lily especially, since her being a baby will make it difficult to think up a plot for a multi-chapter arc in which Lincoln aims to (proportionally) avenge some wrong that was dealt to the youngest Loud. Anyway, the next arc will be continuing to see the trend of Lincoln getting _poetic_ justice for his sisters.

Next time: Snowy Shadows


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter seven: Snowy Shadows part one- Of comics and poems

Lincoln Loud didn't have all that much to do today; he didn't go to school because he had to go to the hospital for another appointment, in regards to his left leg, with the doctor, so he was bored out of his twelve-year-old mind when he temporarily burned himself out on video games. Lincoln also knew that his friends Clyde, Rusty, Liam and Zach would all be busy after school, as would his (more than a) friend Ronnie Anne, as there would undoubtedly be homework that they would have to do.

At least _that_ was something that the sole Loud boy had to look forward to; undoubtedly, one of Lincoln's elementary school-aged sisters would be bringing him any homework that had been assigned to him during the day, as well as any classwork that he missed. Lincoln was going to go out on a limb and guess that Lisa, his four-year-old brainy little sister, would be the one to bring the white-haired boy his work from school for the day. Lisa was rather keen on academic-related tasks such as that.

As Lincoln mindlessly skimmed through a comic book while lying in bed, he heard a commotion from the ground floor that made it clear the elementary school-aged Loud sisters had returned home from school. Admittedly a bit too excitedly (the sheer boredom is to blame), Lincoln got up and proceeded to leave his room to go greet his sisters and ask about their day before he went about asking for any work he missed that they brought him. However, before he left his room, the white-haired boy got a look at the wall clock in his room. Seeing the time, Lincoln stopped out of mild confusion.

"_One_-_thirty_-_six in the afternoon_?" Lincoln thought as he read the time, "_I know school lets out early on Fridays_,_ but this seems a bit early_. _Did something happen_?" Figuring that his younger sisters would be able to fill him in, the sole Loud boy proceeded to make his way down stairs. When he arrived, Lincoln saw that Lucy, the twins Lola and Lana, and Lisa were all standing in the front area with Lynn Sr., the father of the Loud siblings. The younger Loud girls all looked like something bad had happened.

Lincoln was about to speak up to get everyone's attention, but he was cut off when his father spotted him and began to explain a few things. "Glad to see that you're up and about, sport," Lynn Sr. greeted, "I'm guessing that you're wondering what your younger sisters are doing home from the elementary school earlier than usual on a Friday?"

"…Yes, and I was also going to ask if there was any assignment and homework that I missed today," Lincoln replied.

"Your teacher informed me that there were no assignments that you missed when I went about asking her about that very subject," Lisa informed her older brother, "And the only thing that would constitute as homework was the back page of a syllabus that you need to get either mom or dad to sign. It's related to some manner of special event that your grade was going to take part in, but in light of events that occurred today, I highly doubt that said special event will occur."

Instantly, the white-haired boy became alarmed when Lisa mentioned events occurring at school that would require otherwise planned special events to be canceled. "What happened?" Lincoln asked, "Is everyone okay?"

"Relax, bro," Lana replied in a reassuring tone, "No one was hurt when some of the classrooms that were under construction slash repair caught fire."

"There was a _FIRE_ at the school?!" Lincoln exclaimed.

Nodding in the affirmative, Lola said, "From what the others and I heard, some of the classrooms that were damaged really badly in the attack a few months ago were set on fire. What makes it really scary is that one of the classrooms that caught fire is the fifth grade science classroom that is located next door to another fifth grade class. I think it was for math."

"Reading," Lana corrected when she turned to face her younger twin sister, "It was one of the fifth grade reading classrooms."

"Again, no one was hurt," Lisa stated, "In fact, no one was even in the fifth grade reading classroom in question at the time that the classrooms still under construction slash repair had caught fire."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Lincoln remarked, "Well thank goodness for that. It'd be terrible if there was another accident at school in which someone was seriously hurt." With a bit of an uncomfortable look on his face, Lincoln added, "I should know, as I speak from personal experience on the matter."

"Well the point is that no one was hurt, and an investigation is being launched to figure out what caused the fire in the first place," Lana stated, "My guess is that a power outlet had faulty wiring, it let out a few sparks, and those sparks ended up landing on something that caught fire as a result of the sparks." The other sisters nodded in agreement, Lisa particularly as she found her older sister's reasoning to be sound.

As there was no homework of any of the Loud siblings (Lynn Sr. had already signed the thing that Lisa mentioned for Lincoln earlier), they all proceeded to go about getting ready for the weekend. For Lincoln, that meant doing what he had been doing all day today so far. However, right when Lincoln entered his room and closed the door behind him, he heard someone knocking. Turning around, Lincoln opened the door and saw that Lucy, his eight-year-old sister, standing there.

"Hey Lincoln," Lucy began, "There's a poetry slam at a café called 'The Raven's Branch' later today, and I was going to go there and participate. Would you be interested in coming along to watch me?"

"_Finally_," Lincoln thought, "_Something to break up the monotony_." Speaking out loud, Lincoln replied, "Well there's nothing keeping me from saying yes. What time is that poetry slam of yours being held?"

"Four this afternoon," explained the gothic Loud sister, "Because of the incident at school sending everyone home early, I have a bit more time to prepare. Also, said incident gave me inspiration for a new poem or two." Lincoln nodded in response, figuring that what Lucy said had made sense.

Lucy then went to her and Lynn's room to prepare for the poetry slam, leaving Lincoln to relax for a bit. …But given that he had been doing nothing BUT relaxing for more or less the entire day so far, the sole Loud boy was silently wishing that four in the afternoon would get here already. This was going to be a very long couple of hours; Lincoln could just tell. Maybe he could get himself back into one of his video games in order to pass the time. There _was_ a bit of grinding that he had to do on one of his video game in order to get the material he needed to make a new weapon.

* * *

To Lincoln's surprise, Lucy wasn't the only student from Royal Woods Elementary School who was at 'The Raven's Branch' for the poetry slam; the sole Loud boy recognized Lucy's friend Haiku, along with Sasha and Amir, who Lincoln heard about from Lucy and Rita. Also, Lincoln was surprised to see Rusty and Rocky Spokes there as well. "Oh, your younger sister asked you to come to watch her perform?" Rusty asked as he spoke to Lincoln. After Lincoln nodded in the affirmative, Rusty continued, "Yeah, this is the thing that I had planned that I was talking to you about earlier."

Seeing the look of mild surprise on white-haired boy's face, Rocky, with a dry look on his face, said in an equally dry tone, "Yeah, I'm surprised too. I had no idea that Rusty was interested in this kind of business."

Turning to regard his younger brother, Rusty said, "Oh Rocky, you give me nowhere near as much credit as I deserve." Ruffling Rocky's hair a bit, Rusty said, "Now why don't you, your girlfriend and Lincoln go sit at a table and watch me blow everyone's socks off? After all, I'm slated to go first." As Rusty turned and proceeded to go up on stage, Lincoln and Lucy both turned to face Rocky.

"I really wish your older brother wouldn't tease us like that," Lucy remarked dryly.

"Me too," Rocky replied, just as dryly.

After everyone was seated, a café employee that was on stage spoke into the microphone, "Okay, customers, our first participant is newcomer Rusty Spokes." The customers in the café gave a quiet round of applause as Rusty, who had a seventy-page spiral bound notebook (with a green cover) in hand, proceeded to begin.

"So this girl that I like and I are at the theaters because I'm taking her to see a movie that she was talking about wanting to see, right?" Rusty began, "When this older girl, who I would guess was in high school, was asking a theater employee where the restrooms were. That girl must have been a few sandwiches short of a picnic, because when the employee told her to head in the direction he was pointing and she'd eventually hit the restrooms, the girl said that she didn't want to hit the restrooms, she wanted to find them."

Everyone in the audience was dead silent, looking at Rusty like something was…not wrong, per say, but nonetheless dumbfounding. The café employee who introduced Rusty came up and proceeded to whisper something into his ear. "…Wait a minute, this is a poetry slam?" Rusty asked, a mildly confused look on his face, "I thought that this was some sort of stand-up comedy deal." Turning around, Rusty walked off stage while saying, "Dang it."

As the person set to perform after Rusty proceeded to get up onto the stage, Rusty himself went to the table where Lincoln, Lucy and Rocky sat. "…If that was a true story," Lucy began when she turned to face Rusty, "Then I hope that you covered the costs for the tickets and any snacks. It's common courtesy for the guy to cover everything, after all."

…

After a few more people, including Haiku and Amir, participated in the poetry slam, it was finally Lucy's turn to go. As the gothic Loud sister got up to head over to the stage, "You got this," Rocky said, giving Lucy a thumbs up.

"Yeah, Lucy," Lincoln remarked, "Break a leg."

Lucy nodded her thanks to both Lincoln and Rocky before heading up to the stage. When Lucy got up onto the stage, the café employee said into the microphone, "Introducing a Raven's Branch regular, Lucy Loud." The employee then lowered the microphone a bit so that Lucy was able to reach it.

"Tragedy," Lucy said as she spoke into the microphone, "It comes in many ways. Comes in numerous bursts. Comes in great blazes. Comes in grand chaos. Tragedy." Lincoln was unsure of what to make of his younger sister's work, but when everyone applauded it, he applauded Lucy's performance himself nonetheless.

When Lucy was done, she returned to the table where Lincoln and the Spokes brothers were sitting. Rocky was about to say something, but before he could get a word out, someone sat down at the table next to the one the Louds and Spokes were sitting at, getting their attention in the process. This person was a woman that, upon seeing her, Lincoln estimated to be about a half decade younger than Rita.

This woman had fair, somewhat pale skin (but not exactly to Lucy's level), long dark brown hair, and she wore a black t-shirt over a black and dark blue stripped long-sleeved shirt, a pair of dark colored pants, black slip-on shoes, and a pair of black-framed glasses with slightly oval-shaped lenses. After the kids turned to see who she was when she sat down, the woman proceeded to introduce herself to Lucy.

"Yvonne Skinner," the woman said as she gave her name, holding a hand out to Lucy for a handshake, "I have to say, not only has it been a while since I've heard work of such quality from others, but this is the first time I've heard any such work from someone so young."

Lucy, in what is a rare instance for her, smiled as she accepted the handshake. "Thanks," the gothic Loud sister replied, "It's not too often that I meet someone who has a good appreciation for the written word.

"Well what do you know, Lincoln," Rusty said when he turned to face the sole Loud boy, "It looks like your sister just made a new friend."

Giving Rusty a curious look, Lincoln replied, "I'm surprised you don't know who this woman is, given that you have just as much interest in the Ace Savvy comics as I do."

"Oh yes, that," Yvonne remarked, getting the kids to all turn to face her, "I know what the boy with the white hair is talking about. I was a consultant on an issue of the Ace Savvy comics when Bill Buck needed someone to help him with coming up with and writing dialogue for a character named Carpe Diam, who is some sort of poetry-themed villain."

Realizing what was going on, Rusty said, "Now I remember!" Pointing to Yvonne, the older Spokes brother said, "You co-labbed with Bill Buck for 'Ace Savvy vs. Carpe Diam'! I also heard that there was a copy of that issued with the front cover autographed by both you and bill Buck, and that copy sold at auction for over a thousand dollars!"

"I had no idea that one of the writers whose works I collect worked with that guy who makes the comics you read," Rocky remarked when he turned to look at his older brother.

"Wait a minute," Rusty began as he looked right back at Rocky, "You're into reading that deep poetry stuff, too?" Jerking a thumb at Lucy, Rusty continued while still facing his brother, "I thought that was just your dark little girlfriend here."

Giving his brother the driest look yet, Rocky replied, "Why do you insist on continuing to embarrass me like this?"

Chuckling in amusement, Yvonne remarked, "Well isn't this a surprise. I actually met a fan of my work today." To Rocky, Yvonne continued, "If you're interested, my next book is going to be hitting shelves before the end of next week."

"Awesome, Mrs. Skinner," Rocky replied, nodding once in appreciation.

"Huh, I never actually heard of your work, Mrs. Skinner," Lucy began, "But if it's as good as Rocky says it is, then I should give checking it out a try."

"I can loan you the books I have at home," Rocky remarked when he turned to face Lucy.

Yvonne chuckled a bit more in amusement, happy to see that someone who is apparently one of her fans bring in a potential new fan. Lincoln also saw the display between Lucy and Rocky to be on the heartwarming side. Not to mention the fact that he met a woman who co-labbed with Bill buck on an issue of Ace Savvy; Lincoln bet that Clyde, Liam and Zach are going to jealous of him and Rusty.

Today turned out to have been pretty great, all things considered.

* * *

Lincoln was in his room, lying on his bed as he was reading one of his comics, specifically his copy of 'Ace Savvy vs. Carpe Diam'. To think that he, Lucy, Rusty and Rocky met Yvonne Skinner, the woman who co-labbed on this very issue about the world's savviest crime fighter, earlier today. Lincoln was going over the dialogue that the character Carpe Diam was using, and saw that it wouldn't be out of place in some of the books that Lucy reads. He figured that Lucy might even get a bit of a kick out of reading this issue, if only to see Yvonne's handiwork.

When he was finished reading, Lincoln sat up and slipped the comic book back into its protective sleeve. The white-haired boy got up off of bed, flinching slightly due to a mild stinging jolt in his left leg, a common occurrence ever since the attack on RWES a few months back. Lincoln's hand brushed against the leg of his orange sweatpants, which he had taken to wearing whenever he read comics, along with a pair of socks; this was done in order to cover his left leg and foot, so as to not show off the terribly scarred appearance of his bad leg.

When the mild stinging jolt faded, Lincoln walked over to his dresser, opened a drawer, put the sleeved comic inside, closed the drawer, and then threw on a somewhat baggy orange t-shirt (not one of Lincoln's usual orange polos) before opening the door to leave his room. After he closed the door behind himself, Lincoln overheard his sister Lynn say in her and Lucy's room, "You got even _more_ of those weird books?"

"They're Rocky's, and he's letting me borrow them because they're by a writer whose work I'm unfamiliar with," Lucy's voice replied.

Overhearing the conversation between two of his sisters, Lincoln decided to go over to see what was going on. As such, he saw Lynn standing in the room, turned to face Lucy, who was sitting on her (Lucy's) bed. A small collection of books were laid out on Lucy's bed. Lincoln appeared in the doorway just in time to hear Lynn say, "Oh yeah, that's the writer lady that you said you, Rocky, his brother and Lincoln all met at the poetry thing at the café earlier today."

"Yeah, we met Yvonne Skinner earlier," Lincoln spoke up, getting both Lucy and Lynn to turn to face him. "I even have a copy of the Ace Savvy issue where Yvonne co-labbed to help with writing dialogue with the issue's villain," Lincoln continued. To Lucy, Lincoln added, "If you want, you can borrow it so you can check out Yvonne's work in the issue."

With a small but appreciative smile, Lucy replied, "If it's like what's in the books Rocky loaned me, then I'll have to take you up on that offer."

Holding up her hands in a gesture of mock-defeat, Lynn said in a casually playful manner, "It looks like I'm outnumbered here. Just let me get going, alright? My friend Polly called me and said that she wants to tell me this story she has about a few days ago when a boy she's taken an interest in took her to see a movie that she wanted to see at the theater, and this really dumb high school girl showed up and started making a complete fool of herself in the theater lobby." Lynn then took her leave, allowing Lincoln and Lucy to talk about whatever.

After their sporty older sister was gone, Lincoln and Lucy turned to face each other. "I still can't believe that I haven't heard of Yvonne up until today," the gothic Loud sister remarked to her older brother, sounding as if she was a little ashamed of herself, "I mean, the woman is clearly an excellent writer, up with the likes of people whose works I have heard of. I've even written a list of all the books that Rocky loaned me so that I know what to look for when I go about getting my own copies."

Lincoln, with a bit of an amused look on his face, replied, "Well it's a good thing that she stopped by the café while you were performing at the poetry slam. I think it's also pretty neat that she thought that your own poetry is pretty good. Must be pretty good to have your work praised by an experience person in the field, huh?"

Once again, Lucy smiled a bit; Lincoln was having trouble remembering a day before today where he saw his gothic little sister smile so much. "I know," Lucy said, "It makes me feel that I have a shot at striking it out on my own with a successful career in writing."

"Oh please," Lincoln began, "You're good enough for that already if you ask me. You just need to get your feet a bit wet, is all."

Lucy was a bit surprised to hear such words of praise out of anyone. "…You really think so, Lincoln?" Lucy asked, sounding a bit humbled.

Giving Lucy a wry look, Lincoln said, "You're better at poetry and writing in general than Rusty is at comedy. I swear, if Luan was there to see Rusty flub that, she'd be rather cross."

Lucy, smirking a bit in amusement, said in a tone of agreement, "If Luan _did_ see Rocky's brother do failing comedy at a poetry slam, then chances are that he won't survive is Luan decided to visit him on April fool's."

Lincoln and Lucy shared a bit of a good-natured laugh, and they did it long enough for Luan and Luan to walk by, having heard the laughter. "Hey, you guys," Luan greeted, "What did I miss? It must have been something pretty funny if you two are laughing so much."

"Oh, Lucy and I were just laughing at how badly my friend Rusty failed at the poetry slam at the café earlier," Lincoln explained.

Luna, with a curious look on her face, casually remarked, "Huh, I wasn't aware that dude was into poetry like that."

"He thought that it was a stand-up comedy deal, not a poetry slam," Lucy explained, "Instead of reciting a poem that he wrote, Rocky's brother was trying to recount a funny story from when he took some girl he's interested in to see a movie at the theater."

Both teenaged Loud sisters wore confused looks on their respective faces, with Luan's looking somewhat ticked off. Turning to regard Lincoln, Luna said, "Bro, you got yourself some rather interesting friends, don't you?"

"Tell me something that I don't know," the sole Loud boy replied dryly.

"Ohh, ohh," Luan said as she raised a hand, "While my drama class and I were reciting lines we have in an upcoming play, some of the twelfth graders came in to help move some stage sets. Lori and Bobby were among them, and they ended up catching me and Benny kissing each other." With a mildly annoyed, exasperated sigh, Luan added, "Lori is not going to stop talking about it any time soon, let me tell you."

Patting her roommate on the back, Luna said, "Aww, come on, luv. You know the girls and I are only trying to give you props for having succeeded in scoring one with your boyfriend."

Lincoln and Lucy both nodded in agreement with Luna. Lincoln further went on to say that he was glad to see that Luan succeeded in getting Benny to like her. But then again, Lincoln has been happy to hear whenever one of his sisters succeeded in getting their crush to like them back, like the case with Luan getting Benny to like her. There was also the aforementioned instance of Lori and Bobby, and Luna, who was still here, got her crush Sam to like her; Lincoln was in full agreement with Lori on how Luna and Sam are a great couple.

Lincoln also realized that Lucy herself managed to hit things off rather well with Rocky. The sole Loud boy was happy to see that his younger sister was doing pretty well, and he hoped that things between Lucy and Rocky would continue onwards for quite some time. But then again, the two of them have a lot of things in common, such as similar tastes in literature and a shared interest in macabre subjects.

…They just need to remember not to work on their recipes for fake blood while Rusty is around.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER SEVEN

Author's notes:

Well that's the seventh chapter taken care of. A fair number of people, from what I've observed, seem to think that out of all of the Loud sisters, Lucy is one of the closest, if not _the_ closest, to Lincoln. That is something that will make the impact of this arc hit just a bit harder than either of the last two. At least if you ask me. Anywho, things are going to get a little bit more heated here next time, where something happens to Lucy, something that doesn't sit right at all with a certain white-haired boy.

...Anyone want to take a stab at who said white-haired boy has to deal with?


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter eight: Snowy Shadows part two- Stolen words

Lincoln Loud, the only son of the Loud couple Rita and Lynn Sr., was sitting at the dining room table, eating breakfast after he had woken up. As the white-haired boy ate his modest breakfast in peace, his older sister Lynn and younger sister Lucy came walking into the dining room. Lucy was carrying one of the books that she had borrowed from Rocky Spokes. Those books were all written by a woman named Yvonne Skinner, whose works are just the kind of literature that the gothic Loud sibling likes to read.

Lucy was amazed, and a little ashamed, that she hadn't heard of Yvonne until the previous day, where she (Lucy), along with Lincoln, Rocky and Rocky's older brother Rusty, had met the writer at a café where Lucy and Rusty both participated in a poetry slam, although only the former was aware that it was a poetry slam. "I looked up Yvonne's book that she said would be coming out before the end of next week," Lucy said in a conversational tone as she and Lynn walked into the dining room, "It'll hit store shelves on Friday, so I can buy a copy when I get out of school that day."

"Well, at least you know what you want," Lynn remarked, her tone sounding more or less indifferent. Looking over, Lynn saw that Lincoln was sitting at the dining room table. "Hey, bro," the athletic Loud sibling greeted, "How's it going?"

"Rusty told me that he's facing a bit of a personal crisis," Lincoln began, "He said that the girl that he likes has her birthday on Thursday of next week, and he has no idea what to get for her as a birthday gift. He keeps asking me for tips, given that I was able to make things work with me and Ronnie Anne."

Lynn considered what her brother had told her for a bit, mulling his words over in her head. After a few seconds, the sporty Loud sister shrugged and said, "Sorry, bro, but I have no idea on how to help you, given that I don't even know what kind of girl that your friend is trying to impress. Besides which, I need to focus on my friend Polly, whose birthday is also on Thursday of next week." With a bit of a self-amused look on her face, Lynn continued, "I managed to get the local roller derby rink reserved for Polly's party."

"Well tell Polly that I hope she has a great birthday," Lincoln said, "Also, did you remember to send her that apology card to apologize for your part in the incident a while ago where you, Lucy, Luan and Luna all made me go to the dance with the girls you picked out?"

"I remembered to do my part for that," Lucy remarked as she held up a hand. Leaning to her side and turning her head slightly, Lucy saw that her older sister's expression showed a look of having forgotten something. "…And I'd say that Lynn forgot to do her part for that," the gothic Loud sister said casually, her emotionless monotone carrying a hint of dryness.

Sputtering a bit out of embarrassment, Lynn exclaimed while blushing, "S-Shut up!"

Lincoln and Lucy both chuckled a bit at their older sister's embarrassment before the three of them continued to do what they had been doing, that being Lincoln eating his breakfast and Lucy and Lynn getting some breakfast of their own. After the girls sat down, Lucy talked about waiting for Yvonne's next book to come out, whereas Lynn talked about Polly's upcoming party on Thursday of the following week. Lincoln, ever the good brother, listened quietly as his sisters went on about their respective things.

Never let it be said that the white-haired boy doesn't listen to his sisters.

* * *

That Saturday, Lincoln and Clyde were both at the local comic store, as the latest issue of Ace Savvy had hit shelves. "Wow, dude," Clyde remarked as he and Lincoln walked over to the comic racks where the new Ace Savvy comics were stocked, "I still can't believe that you and Rusty both met the woman who co-labbed with Bill Buck on the Ace Savvy issue where Ace fought against Carpe Daim."

"I know," Lincoln remarked as he and Clyde each picked out an issue of the newest Ace Savvy comic, "Not only that, but Yvonne writes the kind of stuff that my younger sister Lucy is into. She still can't believe that she hadn't heard of Yvonne's work until that moment."

Clyde nodded in agreement as he and Lincoln proceeded to make their way over to the register to pay for their respective copies of the new Ace Savvy comic. As they walked, they saw the front door to the comic shop open, and in walked Bobby Santiago, the boyfriend of Lincoln's older sister Lori. Accompanying the Santiago teen were his younger sister (and Lincoln's more-than-a-friend) Ronnie Anne, and Carl Casagrande, Ronnie Anne's and Bobby's six-year-old cousin.

"Oh, dude!" Bobby said as he greeted Lincoln, "I didn't expect to see you here, bro."

Holding up the copy of the Ace Savvy comic that he was going to buy, Lincoln explained, "The newest issue came out, so Clyde and I both wanted to get a copy."

"You know," Carl began in a casual conversational tone, "When my cousins, my siblings and I hung out at the Ace's place a few days back, I skimmed through some of those Japanese comic books that Bobby's samurai-looking friend has in his room." With a gentle shake of his head, the young Casagrande boy continued, "I honestly had no idea that the Japanese had so much interest in blood and gore violence. And sex. And brother-sister incest. And VR video games that people get trapped in." With another shake of his head, Carl added, "Those Japanese comics are nothing like what we're used to here in the States."

"Yeah, cultural differences and all that good jazz," Ronnie Anne remarked in an indifferent tone. To Lincoln and Clyde (well, admittedly mostly Lincoln), Ronnie Anne said, "So, what are you up to for the rest of today?"

"Well after I pay for the comic," Lincoln began, "I'm expected to meet up with Rusty later, given that he still needs help in figuring out what to get for a girl that he likes, given that the girl's birthday is next week Thursday."

Ronnie Anne, with a look of mildly suspicious consideration on her face, asked, "Hey, doesn't Spokes like that roller derby girl that your sister Lynn tried to make you go to the dance with that one time, only for the roller derby girl to end up with Spokes instead?"

Both Lincoln and Clyde went wide-eyed with surprised realization, with Lincoln saying that he couldn't believe he forgot about that. Asking everyone to hold on for a minute, Lincoln took out his phone, called up Rusty, and asked him about the girl that he (Rusty) was trying to impress.

"…So it IS my sister Lynn's friend Polly!" Lincoln said, "Rusty, you ought to come by my place later and ask Lynn about Polly's interests. She can save you so much trouble." The call went on for about another half-minute before Lincoln ended the call, wishing his and Clyde's friend luck. Looking over to Ronnie Anne, the white-haired boy said, "Thanks for reminding me about that. Man, I still can't believe something like that had slipped my mind completely!"

"Yeah, and I still want to give Lynn and each of your other sisters who tried to set you up on dates for the dance a good pounding," the Queen of Pain remarked in a casual tone.

With a bit of a chuckle, Lincoln remarked, "Trying to take on Lynn, and maybe Luna to a lesser extent, might be biting off more than you can chew."

"Your sisters from that incident did remember to send a group apology card to Nie-Nie for that, didn't they?" Bobby asked.

Ronnie Anne, with a mildly surprised look on her face, said, "I was supposed to get an apology card for that?" After saying he'll make sure to get Lynn, Lucy, Luna and Luan to remember to send out all appropriate apology cards, Lincoln proceeded to head over to the register with Clyde, as both boys had comic books to pay for.

After they finished paying for their comic books, Lincoln and Clyde went over the table in the shop where Bobby, Ronnie Anne and Carl sat down at, finding out that they came to the shop because Bobby and Carl were both going to be participating in the weekly tournament at the shop for a card game called Duel Monsters. Ronnie Anne came along because she had to be out of the house, as her mother and grandmother were both planning some big event for the family as a whole; as she failed to get her skateboard before being shooed out of the house, the Queen of Pain tagged along to see how her older brother and younger cousin would be doing.

Lincoln and Clyde stayed around to see a few of the rounds in the tournament, including one where Bobby and Carl were paired to face off against each other. Bobby, who apparently had borrowed a few particularly sought-after cards from his friend Aggro prior to coming to the shop, ended up soundly defeating Carl two game in a row in their round with each other. Huffing in a bemused manner, Carl said, "Borrelsword ought to be banned."

* * *

As Lincoln had discovered, Lynn's friend Polly was, in fact, the girl who his friend Rusty was trying to impress. As such, Lincoln had Rusty come over and get a few ideas from Lynn on what to get for Polly as a birthday gift. So, as one could imagine, when Polly's birthday came around, she was pleasantly surprised by the gift that Rusty had gotten for her. After setting down the gift from Rusty, Polly proceeded to drag the older Spokes boy out into the derby rink. Lynn, who was amused by what her friend was doing, proceeded to cheer her on while Lincoln, Rocky and Lucy, who also came to the party, watched on from a nearby table.

"…Mark my words, Lucy," Rocky remarked in a dry tone, "My brother is going to have to go to the hospital after the party today, if the way that girl is dragging him around the rink is any indication."

"Oh, come on, Rocky," Lincoln began, "You ought to give your brother more credit. Rusty is a surprisingly resilient per-" Lincoln was cut off midsentence when he, as well as Lucy and Rocky, both heard a pained scream coming from the rink, immediately followed by a girl's voice rapid-firing apologizing, clearly sounding worried. Lincoln, who turned to see that Rusty was sitting on the floor in the rink while holding his foot and crying in pain as Polly repeatedly apologized, turned back around to see the dry looks on the faces of Lucy and Rocky. "…Accidents happen," the white-haired boy remarked.

Shaking his head in resignation, Rocky remarked, "At this point, Rusty ought to have his own room at the local hospital on permanent reserve, given all of the various injuries he had to go in for over the years." Holding up his left hand so he could count off items on a list, the younger Spokes boy said, "Fractured bones in his hand, broken left forearm, busted right knee, very mild concussion, broken nose, two broken ribs-"

"Someone call an ambulance!" Lynn called out, making Rocky and the others look over to the rink's floor and see Rusty cradling his left foot, which had the skate it was wearing taken off, "I think this guy's got a few of the bones in his left foot busted!"

"Holy crap!" Polly exclaimed as she looked like she was on the verge of tears, "I broke Rusty's left foot!"

As the people out on the rink proceeded to arrange for medical transport for Rusty, Lincoln, Lucy and Rocky looked back to each other. "…Fractured bones in his left foot," Rocky said, listing off another item on the extensive list of injuries his older brother had accumulated. As he looked up at Lincoln, the younger Spokes boy asked in a dry tone, "Need I go on?"

"No, no," Lincoln replied, "I don't think that will be necessary."

"Your older brother is rather accident prone, isn't he?" Lucy asked, matching Rocky's dryness.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Rocky said, "Oh, Lucy. You have NO idea."

"Your older brother needing to go to the hospital won't somehow make you miss the release of Yvonne's newest book tomorrow, will it?" Lucy asked.

With a casual dismissive wave of his hand, Rocky replied, "Oh I don't see how that could possibly happen. Rusty will probably be home in time for a somewhat late dinner tonight." Lincoln listened on as Lucy and Rocky had a conversation about wondering what Yvonne's book that is going on sale tomorrow will be like, as well as Rocky telling Lucy a story about how his and Rusty's dad has a betting system set up with his co-workers/employees at work about what Rusty's next injury will be like.

"_So_, _I_'_m not the only one_," Lincoln thought as he listened to the conversation between the two third-graders.

* * *

The following day, when school got out for the day/weekend, Lincoln was met up by Rusty and Rocky; the former had a cast on his left foot, and was using a pair of crutches to get around. "Silver lining," Rusty said in a casually conversational tone as he was finishing up a story that he was recounting, "Polly kissed me when she met up with me after I got the cast put on my foot. So I don't think yesterday was _too_ bad, all things considered."

"Yeuhh huh," Lincoln replied. To the Spokes brothers as a whole, the white-haired boy asked, "So anyway, have either of you seen Lucy?"

"I'm right here," Lucy's voice spoke up, startling Lincoln and Rusty, as what usually happens when Lucy manages to sneak up on people; when Rusty came down after having jumped, he hit his injured foot on the floor, sending a jolt of pain through him that made him yelp. "Sorry about being late," Lucy began, "And also sorry for making you jump, Rusty." Adjusting the straps of her backpack as they went over her shoulders, the gothic Loud sister said, "Anyway, I'm ready to head over to the bookstore when you guys are."

Rusty, after calming down a bit from having hit his foot, said, "Can't you and Rocky wait on that until later? I need to get home, seeing as how I'm-" The older Spokes boy was cut off when a van pulled up next to the sidewalk where Rusty, Lincoln, Lucy and Rocky waited. Opening the passenger side door of the van from within was Mr. Spokes, Rusty's and Rocky's dad.

"Get in, kids," Mr. Spokes said, "We're heading to the bookstore!"

"But what about me, dad?" Rusty asked, "I need to get home because I'm injured! How about a little sympathy here?"

"You're two hospital trips away from Royal Woods General naming an entire wing in your honor," Mr. Spokes said to his oldest son in an indifferent tone, "I think you'll live just fine." The kids all got into the Spokes family van, with Rusty grumbling to himself in a bemused manner, muttering about how his dad shows more love to Rocky and whatnot.

* * *

The drive from RWES to the bookstore was filled mostly with Mr. Spokes talking about various stories from work. "So this chubby Mexican girl and this blonde girl she's friends with comes into the store, asking about finding a decent suit for the blonde girl's boyfriend, who is also the chubby Mexican girl's cousin," Mr. Spokes began, "Apparently, the local high school is having some big dance next week, and the blonde girl wants her boyfriend looking his best." With a bit of a self-amused chuckle, Mr. Spokes added, "So naturally, I showed the girls some options, asking what color they were looking for. I ended up sending the two of them off with one of the finest rental tuxes the store has to offer."

"Huh, you don't say, dad," Rocky remarked. Turning to face Lucy, Rocky asked, "Hey Lucy, didn't you say that you and your brother have some sisters attending the local high school?"

"Yeah, Lincoln and I have four older sisters in high school," Lucy replied, "In fact, me and Lincoln's oldest sister, Lori, is currently fretting over the big dance that your father mentioned. She wants her experience during the dance to be nothing short of perfect, so she's going all out in getting ready. But that's beside the point." Tapping her right fist into her left hand, the gothic Loud sister continued, "We got a book release to go to." Rocky simply nodded in agreement.

Seeing his youngest son getting along with a girl, Mr. Spokes said, "Aww, well aren't you two adorable together." To Rusty, Mr. Spokes said, "So Rusty, how does it feel to have your own younger brother get a girl to like him before you got a girl to like you? Also, when are YOU going to find a girl?"

"What about Polly?" Rusty asked, "You know, the girl who kissed me after I got out of the hospital last night?"

"Ain't she the reason you were _at_ the hospital last night in the first place?" Mr. Spokes retorted, making Rusty shut up out of embarrassment. The older Spokes boy was silent for the rest of the ride to the bookstore.

* * *

After a trip to the bookstore where Lucy and Rocky each got a copy of Yvonne Skinner's newest book, Lincoln and Lucy were dropped off at their place by Mr. Spokes, who was sharing a laugh with his youngest son as the Spokes family men went home. Turing to face Lincoln, Lucy remarked, "You know, Rocky's parents are always welcoming to me whenever Rocky has me over, although I think that's partly because they're happy that I, a girl, like Rocky."

"Yeah," Lincoln replied with an agreeing nod, "Reminds me of the story Lori told us about when she was first over at Bobby's family's place. Mrs. Santiago really showed her some hospitality."

"And the first time Leni was over at the Ace residence after she and Aggro started dating," Lucy added, "Mrs. Ace invited Leni to stay for dinner that night, and Aggro's pet fox hopped up into Leni's lap to curl up." Lincoln and Lucy talked for a bit as they headed up to the front door of their house, with Lucy saying how she couldn't wait to crack into her new book. It was the first of Yvonne's works that Lucy actually had her own copy of, so it was something special to the gothic Loud sister. Lincoln, for his part, just smiled, happy to see that his younger sister was happy. He doesn't see Lucy being happy all that often.

Or is she, and she just doesn't show it too much?

* * *

Lucy couldn't crack into her copy of Yvonne's latest book right away, as she and Lincoln were distracted by Lori going about in something of a panic over the next homecoming for Royal Woods High, which was still a fair bit off. "This is my last chance to be homecoming queen," Lori said to her friends Trixie Goldman, Allison Ace, Carlota Casagrande and Carol Pingrey, all of whom she had over at the house, "So literally nothing is allowed to go wrong!"

"Isn't Carol going to try for homecoming queen again this year?" Carlota asked, "After all, she won last year, from what you guys have told me on the matter."

"Our school only lets people win titles at homecoming once," Carol explained to Carlota, "So even if I wanted to, I can't be homecoming queen again. I _could_ potentially be homecoming princess, though."

"Sounds like a bit of a demotion if you ask me," Trixie remarked, drawing a bit of a laugh out of the girls aside from Allison (she isn't all that amused by/doesn't care about things dealing with dances such as homecoming).

As the high school girls continued to talk about the upcoming homecoming dance at their school, Lincoln and Lucy came up to them, as they stood in the way of getting upstairs. "Can we get through, please?" Lucy asked, "I got a new book that I want to get started on reading."

"Oh, Lucy, Lincoln," Lori remarked, "There you guys are. I was literally wondering where you two were at, seeing as how you didn't come home with Lisa and the twins."

"Rocky and I went to the bookstore after school because we both wanted to get a copy of a new book by Yvonne Skinner," Lucy explained, "Lincoln ended up coming along, partly to keep an eye on me but mostly because Rocky's brother would be bored otherwise."

Nodding in understanding, Lori remarked, "That makes sense. Hey didn't Rusty get injured yesterday at that birthday party for Lynn's friend on the roller derby team?"

"According to Rocky, it was far from the first time that Rusty needed a trip to the hospital," Lincoln remarked, "Although I got the feeling that most of Rusty's aforementioned trips were the result of either clumsiness, bad luck or sheer stupidity on Rusty's part."

Lori, with a trouble look on her face, said, "I…don't really like having to hear about someone needing a lot of trips to the hospital." Giving her younger brother a bit of a knowing look, the oldest Loud sibling continued, "You know what I mean, Lincoln, don't you?"

The sole Loud boy was very much aware of what Lori was trying to get at; Lincoln himself had to make multiple trips to the hospital, and all within a short span of time, a couple of months ago. Thankfully, Lincoln didn't have to go to the hospital for anything since sometime shortly before the Great Lakes City riots. Other than a few appointments regarding Lincoln's trip due to getting caught up in the attack on RWES, that is, but those were nothing serious.

Speaking out loud, Lincoln said, "Well Rusty is doing fine. Also, he's rather happy that Lynn's friend Polly actually kissed him."

Her expression relaxing a bit, Lori said, "Well, at least your friend's happy now." To her friends that she had over, Lori remarked, "Anyway, girls, we still have a lot of prep to do if I'm going to be winning homecoming queen this year."

As Lori's friends proceeded to resume the homecoming prep, with Allison asking if mead would be served at the homecoming party ("As it's a school function, that would be a no," Carol said), Lincoln and Lucy made their way upstairs, with the latter being keen on reading the new book that she got.

* * *

Lincoln was flipping through the latest issue of the Ace Savvy comic that he had, when he heard someone knocking on his door. "Come in," Lincoln called out. A second later, the door opened, revealing Lucy standing there. Her copy of Yvonne's newest book was in her right hand, her thumb between two of the pages to keep the book from otherwise being closed. "Oh, hey Lucy," the white-haired boy greeted in a casual tone, "Is there any-"

"Look at this," Lucy said, cutting her brother off in the process, as she walked over and opened her book to the part that she had her thumb in. When Lucy spoke, Lincoln could tell that his little sister was upset about something, so he looked at what she was trying to show him. The page in question, which was on Lincoln's left-hand side, listed a few poems. "This one right here," Lucy said, pointing to a specific poem, which Lincoln read silently to himself;

_Tragedy_

_It comes in many ways_

_Comes in numerous bursts_

_Comes in great blazes_

_Comes in grand chaos_

_Tragedy_

After he finished reading the poem, Lincoln looked up at Lucy. "…Okay," Lincoln replied, not understanding what this poem had to do with anything, "Is there anything wrong here?"

"Of course there's something wrong here, Lincoln," Lucy said, a very slight cracking appearing in her tone, "This is the poem that I came up with and recited at the poetry slam where we met Yvonne, well before this book came out. Also, I looked it up, and as it turned out Yvonne's book would have been out slightly sooner, but it was delayed a bit because she had to make a few 'last minute edits' before it could be published." Looking down at the floor, Lucy said, "Yvonne stole my work. My work was stolen by a respected writer in the genre that I enjoy."

Lincoln's eyes widened in shocked surprise, even more so when he thought back to the poetry slam and recalled when Lucy was up on the stage and she recited the very poem that had been published in Yvonne's book, a book that didn't come out until _after_ the poetry slam, a book that, as it turned out, was slightly delayed because Yvonne had to make a few 'last minute changes' before it came out. 'Last minute changes' in this case apparently meant 'add work that was stolen from other people to her new book', and the gothic Loud sister was the one whose work had been stolen.

Lincoln could not blame his younger sister for being upset.

"I already called Rocky and told him about it," Lucy said, "Apparently, he found the poem in his copy of Yvonne's new book, and said that he felt suspicious about it when he first saw it. When I reminded him that it was the poem that I wrote and recited well before the book came out, he not only apologized to me over my work having been stolen, but he was upset that one of his favorite writers apparently plagiarizes the work of other people. I don't think that he has a lot of respect left for Yvonne at this point."

While she was still looking down at the floor in Lincoln's room, Lucy let go of the book that she was holding, allowing it to hit the floor. It landed on the back cover, so none of the corners were bent or damaged. But given what Lucy had discovered about it, she was half-tempted to take that book and chuck it into the furnace in the Loud family's basement.

Lucy just stood there, and when he saw Lucy began to shake a little, indicating that she was about to cry, Lincoln instinctively got up and gently dragged his little sister into a hug. The white-haired boy hugged his gothic younger sister as she began to gently, quietly sob into his right shoulder. Lincoln couldn't blame Lucy for crying, and if she ended up ruining the baggy orange t-shirt that he was wearing with mucus, then so be it.

Lucy was robbed of her creative work.

Lincoln was NOT going to let this stand.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER EIGHT

Author's note:

For those of you in the comments who anticipated that Yvonne was going to be the antagonist in this arc then congratulations, you get a cookie, plus a second cookie if you guessed what Yvonne was going to do. Anyway, Lincoln will not be letting someone get away with stealing his little sister's own creative work only to publish it as their own. Lincoln is going to be righting things here, mark my words. However, what Lincoln will do to avenge this injustice will have to wait until next time.

As a side note, the subplot I introduced in this chapter, Lori getting ready for homecoming, will pop up every couple of chapters until it's resolved at some point in this story. I already have something in mind for it, though, so don't go thinking it'll be something I'll leave off to the side until the last minute.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter nine: Snowy Shadows part three- Punished Plagiarism

Lincoln Loud, a white-haired twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, was NOT in a good mood. Normally this wouldn't be a problem today, as it was a Friday, and Fridays always perk up the school-aged populace of Royal Woods. However, the sole Loud boy learned that his gothic younger sister, Lucy, had some of her own creative work stolen and published in a book by a woman named Yvonne Skinner, a writer who works mainly in the very field of writing that Lucy enjoys so much.

This upset Lincoln because he and Lucy, alongside the Spokes brothers Rusty and Rocky, actually met Yvonne at a cafe at least a week before her book that had Lucy's poem was published. Everyone was there for a poetry slam that was being held, and Lucy herself took part in that poetry slam, reciting the very poem that had been stolen by Yvonne who, as it turns out, is a rather dishonest individual.

"_That must have been how Yvonne heard of Lucy_'_s poem_," Lincoln thought as he thought back to the poetry slam from over a week ago, "_That being said_, _I wonder how many other aspiring poets and writers has had their creative work stolen by that woman_." Something else that gave the sole Loud boy trouble in this case was the fact that Yvonne actually co-labbed on an issue of the Ace Savvy comics, working with Bill Buck himself. The white-haired boy was upset that a man like the legend himself actually worked with a person who took other peoples' work and claimed it as her own. Bill probably didn't know that he worked with a plagiarizer, though.

But that business was Lincoln's own, and he wasn't the one who was really suffering here. No, the person who was hurting the most in this case was Lincoln's younger sister Lucy. Seeing the gothic Loud sister having been a victim of some grave injustice reminded Lincoln about how two of his other sisters, Lori and Lynn, had similarly been dealt their own injustice. However, there was a big difference here that set things apart.

Lori and Lynn are both _older_ sisters of Lincoln's. Lucy is a _younger_ sister.

The sole Loud boy thought that it was bad enough to see an older sister, someone who was supposed to protect him and be a provider of strength, suffer. But to see one of his younger sisters, someone who Lincoln himself is supposed to protect and provide strength to, suffer in a similar fashion? If the cases that respectively happened to Lori and Lynn angered Lincoln, then what happened to Lucy made the white-haired boy _absolutely livid_. Oh yes, Lincoln was going to make doubly sure to get back at Yvonne for stealing Lucy's creative work.

However, before Lincoln could avenge the injustice that had been dealt to Lucy, he had to gather a few necessary things that he needed for the plan that he was already coming up with. He just hoped that what he needed was actually available.

* * *

The following morning, Lincoln casually strolled down the stairs and made a turn to head into the dining room, as he had to cut through it to get to the kitchen to get some breakfast. When he entered the dining room, however, Lincoln saw that his older sister Lori, with her friends Carol, Carlota, Trixie and Allison, were all occupying the dining table. Judging from the spread that was on the table's surface, everything was related to Lori's bid to win the title of homecoming queen at the upcoming homecoming dance.

"I…take it that you and your friends are going to do be doing this today?" Lincoln spoke up, getting Lori and her friends to all turn and face the white-haired boy as he gestured to what the girls had on the table.

"We still have to go over some of the finer details in my plan to be homecoming queen this year, Lincoln," Lori replied, "But no, this won't take up the entirety of our day. We're planning to go to the mall later."

Nodding in understanding, Lincoln said, "Fair enough." Lincoln proceeded to head to the kitchen, but he stopped short and turned back around. Getting Lori's attention again, the white-haired boy asked, "Hey Lori, would it be too much trouble if you could give me a ride at some point later today?"

Lori, with a confused look on her face, replied, "Wait a minute, didn't you literally get your newest comic book yesterday?"

"No, no, that's not it," Lincoln began to explain as he gently shook his head in response to Lori's inquiry, "I don't need a ride to the comic book store. I need a ride over to a cafe that's called 'The Raven's Branch'." Lori, who wasn't expecting her younger brother to seek a destination like what he was asking about, was mildly surprised. And suspicious.

"Why would you want to go to a café?" Lori asked, "Much less one that's called 'The Raven's Branch'? That literally sounds like someplace that Lucy would want to go to."

"There's something that I'm looking for there," the sole Loud boy replied, "And I'm pretty sure I can find it at the café I want to go to." The white-haired boy was being as vague as possible, because if any of his sisters knew what he had planned, then either they'd stop him from carrying it out because it was really risky, or they'd try to force their way into helping out with the plan and end up ruining any shot Lincoln had of succeeding; it's part of why he didn't inform anyone about either of the two plans he had used previously to avenge his sisters.

For her part, Lori wasn't too entirely comfortable about her younger brother's sudden desire to go to a café that would better serve as the haunt of their gothic younger sister. The oldest Loud sister was about to speak up, but she was cut off when her friend Allison chimed in.

"I assume you wish to purchase a small bag of the grounded coffee that they sell at that location," Allison said, "Do you not, little one? My twin brother occasionally goes to that very café you speak of, as he likes the bags of hazelnut coffee grounds that they sell." Leaning back in her seat, the female Ace twin continued, "Aye, that twin of mine has a liking for hazelnut coffee. Even more so when he has that hazelnut-flavored creamer to add to it."

Lincoln was able to tell that Lori wasn't fully convinced by the reason for his seemingly out of the blue request. So, when Lori was distracted by the female Ace twin, Lincoln quickly nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah, Allison has a point," Lincoln said, getting Lori to turn back to regard him, "I want to try the same coffee that Aggro-sensei swears by, so I want to head over to the café and get my own bag of the grounds."

Lori accepted this, knowing that her younger brother looks up to Aggro in a manner similar to how he (Lincoln) also looks up to Bobby. And this wasn't the first time Lincoln wanted to do something to emulate either of the two teenaged boys that he looks up to. "Fair enough," Lori remarked, "Unfortunately, I just don't have the time for it today, Lincoln."

"No need to worry about that," Allison remarked, getting Lori to turn to regard her, "Aggro said that he was going to swing by the place later today, as he himself needs to get some more of the hazelnut coffee grounds." Turning to face Lincoln, the female Ace twin continued, "I have no doubt that Aggro would be willing to bring you along for the ride to the café. Just call him before he leaves."

Lincoln nodded in thanks to the female Ace twin before he went into the kitchen to get himself something to eat for breakfast. After eating, he quickly called up the Ace residence, hoping that his Kendo instructor was still at home. Luckily, Aggro himself was the one who answered the call, and after Lincoln explained himself to him, the male Ace twin said that he'd be glad to give Lincoln a lift to 'The Raven's Branch', while saying that he was flattered that he was inspiring his student in the way of the sword to try the tastes that he (Aggro) favors.

All Lincoln needed to do now was to get himself ready for a trip into town. After getting himself dressed properly, the sole Loud boy figured that he could work out the finer details of his plan for getting revenge on Yvonne for the stunt that she pulled on Lucy.

Never mess with an older brother's younger sister.

* * *

After arriving at 'The Raven's Branch', Lincoln followed Aggro inside. When the group entered, a male teenaged voice called out to Aggro, making him turn to see a boy roughly the same age as him and Bobby. This boy was slightly shorter than Aggro, but somewhat taller than Lincoln's sister Leni. This teenaged boy was fair skinned and had long (reaching about a fourth of the way down his shoulder blades) straight orange-reddish hair that was more on the red side than the orange. He wore a light green long sleeved shirt under a striped shirt that had horizontal stripes of blue and darker blue, a pair of blue jeans, a pair of somewhat clunky-looking sneakers, a pair of socks (although that couldn't be seen), and a pair of blue-framed glasses with perfectly round lenses. This boy was also very noticeably well-fed, at least three-hundred-twenty pounds.

Recognizing this boy as an old acquaintance of his, Aggro walked over to chat it up with the boy, catch up on things that they both missed. Since his Kendo instructor was distracted, Lincoln had the perfect chance to go about his business. The sole Loud boy walked up to an open register and got the attention of the clerk at that register, a dark-skinned girl roughly Lori's age who Lincoln thought could pass for an African American Carlota, except that this girl had dishwater blonde hair in a short bob cut, she did not have a fuller body (in fact, she actually looked mildly underweight), and she wore glasses like the kind Aggro's friend wore, but with a red frame instead.

"Excuse me," Lincoln said to the girl at the register, "But there was something that I hope that you and the others working here could help me with. It concerns a poetry slam that was held here a little over a week ago."

Nodding in understanding, the girl replied, "Yeah, I know the poetry slam that you're talking about, little dude." Lincoln was a bit surprised by the girl's choice of vocabulary. Okay, so this girl is an African American Carlota with Luna-brand linguistics. Pointing to Lincoln, the girl continued, "I recognize you as that kid with the snow-covered dome. You came to watch the poetry slam, and you really seemed to like how that dark little dudette was totally rocking it when she was up." Casually leaning on the counter so she could bring her face a little closer to Lincoln, the girl asked, "What can I do you for, brah?"

In response, Lincoln turned slightly and pointed up to an upper corner in the café, in which a surveillance camera was mounted. Turning back to face the clerk, Lincoln asked, "Was the security camera running during the poetry slam I attended?"

"Yeah, that camera runs around the clock," the girl explained, "And the boss-man has everything that's been recorded ever since he became the head honcho saved. Also he never deletes any footage, so there's at least seven years' worth of footage in his records." Giving the sole Loud boy a curious look, the girl asked, "Why do you ask?"

"Is there also sound in those recordings?" Lincoln asked.

The girl, who was starting to get a bit worried, replied, "A little bit, especially if things are loud enough. Little dude, did something bogus happen?"

Lincoln took off his backpack, opened it, and pulled out the copy of Yvonne's book that had Lucy's poem in it. "…The 'dark little dudette' as you had put it is my younger sister Lucy," Lincoln began to explain, "During the poetry slam that we were at, Lucy recited a poem that she wrote. One of the people who was in the audience at that time is a woman by the name of Yvonne Skinner, a writer who specializes in the genre of literature that Lucy likes."

Holding up the book that he had pulled out, Lincoln continued, "This book is written by Yvonne, and it came out yesterday, at least a week after the poetry slam." Giving the clerk a serious look, the sole Loud boy said, "This book contains the poem that my sister Lucy wrote and recited at the poetry slam, well over a week before this book came out." Lowering the book, Lincoln said, "I have a lot of good reason to suspect that Yvonne Skinner stole my younger sister's creative work and published it as her own. The reason I was asking about the video surveillance is that I was hoping it recorded enough evidence to prove my suspicions right."

The clerk, realizing that this was a rather serious matter, said, "Little dude, chill here while I go get the manager and tell him about what happened. I'm sure he'd be interested in hearing about this, along with helping you out." Lincoln nodded once in thanks before the girl turned around and went into a back room, presumably to get her manager.

* * *

When Lincoln met up with the manager of 'The Raven's Branch' and presented him with his evidence, the manager proceeded to check the recordings he had from that day. The manager was a slim Caucasian man in his mid to late forties. He had a full head of dark brown hair that was long enough to be in a men's ponytail that was of a length comparable to the men's ponytail that Aggro sported. Lincoln's father, Lynn Sr., was the manager's age (maybe a year or so younger), and yet he was starting to lose his hair. The manager also looked somewhat younger than the Loud family patriarch.

But that's getting off subject. The manager stopped at one point during the review of the footage, as he saw someone that he thought looked like Yvonne Skinner; it was in fact Yvonne, as Lincoln was able to confirm given he was sitting next to her. That part of the recording from that day also not only showed that Lucy was on stage at the time, but there was enough audio to hear her recite the one poem in Yvonne's book that Lincoln had.

The manager also checked the date and time of the recording, then pulled up a site on the internet that was talking about Yvonne's newest book. "Yeah, I'm a rather big fan of this branch of literature myself," the manager explained, "Hence why I like to have poetry slams here, along with having this website talking about Yvonne's newest book favorited."

Moving his mouse cruiser over one part in an article on the page he was on, the manager said, "I remember reading this article concerning Yvonne's newest book being delayed slightly since Yvonne needed to make a few tweaks to it before it was ready for publish." Leaning back in his seat in the office slightly, the manager said after giving a resigned sigh, "Yvonne's book came out a little more than a week after your sister recited that poem of hers that somehow ended up in Yvonne's book." With another sigh, the manager said, "It's clear. Yvonne stole it."

"As I feared," Lincoln remarked, his tone sounding mildly grim. Turing to face the manager, the white-haired boy got his attention before saying, "I'm going to need your help on this one, sir. I want to bring attention to the fact that Yvonne clearly stole my younger sister's work and tried to claim it as her own."

Giving Lincoln a bit of a knowing look, the manager said, "I know just what to do, little dude." Standing up from his chair, the manager said as he walked over to a phone, "I'm going to make some calls to bring everything around that thieving bitch down around her and burning." As he picked up the phone, the manger turned to Lincoln and added, "I hope that you like a show, little dude, because this one is going to be totally rockin'!"

"_So the manager here ALSO talks like Luna_," Lincoln thought dryly as he watched the manager get to work, "_If Lucy ever feels like coming here again_, _she ought to bring Luna along_."

* * *

It wasn't all that long before the manager's efforts began to pay off; about an hour or so after the manager made his calls, word leaked that Yvonne Skinner had plagiarized someone else's work in part of her newest book. The manager provided the proper authorities with the evidence that was showing Yvonne as having stolen someone else's work. Seeing that the evidence that the manager had provided to them was sufficient enough, those authorities decided that there was enough cause to launch an investigation into the matter concerning Yvonne's newest book.

The publishing company that published Yvonne's newest book, as well as a number of other books written by Yvonne, confirmed that the 'last minute tweaks' that Yvonne wanted to make to her book was to add a few poems that she had come with at the last minute. The publishing company was shown the recording from 'The Raven's Branch' where Lucy recited her poem that appeared in Yvonne's book, and the time and date were pointed out so as to show that Lucy had that poem WAY before it appeared in Yvonne's book.

This prompted the publishing company to do their OWN investigation into Yvonne's work. As it turned out, not only did Yvonne, in fact, steal Lucy's poem from the poetry slam at the café that day, but a number of Yvonne's other works turned out to have been stolen from other writers of varying status. Most of them were unpublished aspiring writers like Lucy, but there were a few serious published writers of a standing similar to Yvonne herself; there was one particularly big case in Yvonne having stolen an entire three-hundred-twenty-seven paged horror-mystery novel from a somewhat younger female author.

When all of the evidence had been brought to light, it was safe to say that Yvonne no longer had a career in writing (not that she ever had much of one to begin with, as it was eventually discovered that at least ninety-five percent of her work wasn't actually 'her work'). And that's saying nothing about how Yvonne had a bit of legal trouble to deal with, as there was enough evidence in regards to the serious writers that had their work stolen to prove Yvonne guilty of copyright infringement.

…Yeah. Yvonne Skinner wasn't going to get out of this one.

* * *

Lincoln was invited over to the Spokes residence by Rusty, who was allowed to remove his cast, although he was given clear instructions to take it easy with his sore foot. When Lincoln arrived at the Spokes residence, he was surprised to find that two other people were already there; the first one was Argent Ace, the eight-year-old brother of Aggro. Given that Argent is the closest friend of Rusty's younger brother Rocky, seeing the eight-year-old Ace boy here at the Spokes residence made a lot of sense.

The other person already waiting at the door was Lynn's friend Polly. However, it took Lincoln a moment to recognize her; the roller derby girl wasn't in her usual getup, but rather she was wearing a long-sleeved blouse, a skirt that reached half-way down her shins, a pair of shoes, and her usual socks. The socks were the only thing unchanged, although this new attire of Polly's had pretty much the same color scheme as her usual outfit.

Additionally, Polly didn't have her hair in pigtails, allowing it to fall gently down over her back in a sort-of wavy waterfall, and also Polly was carrying a small shopping bag that, from what Lincoln was able to observe, held a few snacks, mostly dollar bags of candy, although there were also a few individually wrapped baked goods, and at least one twenty-ounce bottle of Rusty's favorite brand of soda. The bag, which was clearly some sort of gift/offering, along with how surprisingly modest Polly appeared, made it clear to Lincoln that the roller derby girl was still feeling bad about sending Rusty to the hospital, and she wanted to make things right.

"I…take it you guys are here to see Rocky and Rusty?" Lincoln spoke up, getting both Argent and Polly to turn to face him.

"Yeah, I still need to apologize for sending Rusty to the hospital," Polly remarked.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Argent asked as he looked up at Lincoln, "And why did you come over?" A hint of suspicion creeping into his tone, the eight-year-old Ace boy continued, "Did Rocky's brother try to talk you into coming over to join him in mocking Rocky while he's burning some books of his?"

"Wait a minute," Lincoln said, "Rocky's burning some of his books?"

Giving the white-haired boy a dry look, Argent explained, "After he found out that most of the published work of his favorite writer was plagiarized from various other writers, Rocky was really devastated. So much so that he's decided to take all of the books from that writer that he has and burn them." With an annoyed-sounding 'hmph', Argent added, "Rocky also told me that his older brother was poking fun at him over it."

Gently shaking his head, Lincoln replied with a mildly concerned look on his face, "Argent, I would never give Rocky grief over something like that. I can't begin to imagine what he's going through after learning that his favorite writer stole a lot of the work she claimed was hers. Even more so since one of the poems in the latest book that writer published was stolen from Lucy."

Hearing that last part out of Lincoln made Argent take pause. "…That Yvonne woman stole one of Lucy's poems?" Argent asked in a tone of mildly subdued surprise. The white-haired boy only nodded in the affirmative. "…I know that Rocky really cares about that sister of yours," Argent began, "For him to learn that his favorite writer stole some work from his girlfriend…I cannot even begin to imagine how that would hit him."

"I know," Lincoln replied with a nod. Lincoln proceeded to knock on the front door, and a few seconds later it was answered by Rusty, who allowed the visitors inside.

* * *

After a few hours, Lincoln returned home. When he entered the Loud residence, he was greeted by Lynn who, over Lincoln's objections, proceeded to pick him up and carried him bridal style up the stairs, explaining that Lucy wanted to see him up in her and Lynn's room. "You know, Lynn," Lincoln said dryly in an annoyed tone, "You could have just told me that Lucy wanted to see me. I'm capable of going up the stairs, regardless of my injured left leg."

"Yeah, but my way is quicker," the sporty Loud sister countered in a casual tone as she went up the stairs. After a few seconds, Lynn and Lincoln reached the top of the stairs and got into the second floor hallway. The sporty Loud sister made a beeline for her and Lucy's room, where the door was already open, and after she walked in, Lynn set Lincoln down, allowing him to stand on his own feet.

Lucy, who had observed Lynn carry Lincoln into the room, remarked in her usual emotionless monotone, "You know, Lynn, our brother is more than capable of comping up to our room on his own, regardless of his injured left leg."

"Ehh, whatevs," Lynn replied indifferently before turning around to go back down to the ground floor. This allowed Lucy to talk to Lincoln alone.

"So, Lucy," Lincoln began, "What is it that you wanted to see me ab-" Lincoln was cut off when Lucy got up (while he was talking) and, upon getting close enough to Lincoln, wrapped her arms around him (under his arms, keeping them free), drawing him into a gentle hug. The gothic Loud sister rested the left side of her head against her older brother's chest.

The sole Loud boy could feel that Lucy was trembling a bit, a clear sign that she was feeling a bit more emotions, or the same amount only stronger, than usual. Instinctively, Lincoln slowly reached with his right hand to give his younger sister a gently pat on her back, but stopped short about an inch from target when Lucy finally spoke up.

"I know the manager over at 'The Raven's Branch' was credited by all the sources as the person who brought what Yvonne Skinner did to light," Lucy began in a moderately gentle tone, "But I actually got a call from him, telling me that a white-haired boy who identified himself as my older brother was the one who brought all of that to his attention, saying that he wanted Yvonne to answer for having stolen my poem and published it as her own work."

Lucy lifted her head up from Lincoln's chest and looked up at him. Although her eyes were, as always, covered by her bangs, that didn't keep the gothic Loud sister from crying. And her tears were flowing freely, although Lucy was not sobbing or making any noise; it was just the tears flowing down the sides of her moderately pale-skinned face.

"Thanks," Lucy remarked before she returned her head to resting against her brother's chest, given that she wasn't done hugging him or crying for that matter. The white-haired boy hoped that Lucy didn't tell anyone about this, and when he asked Lucy confirmed that she alone knew what the manager over at 'The Raven's Branch' had told her. Relieved, Lincoln also asked Lucy to not tell anyone about his part his bringing Yvonne Skinner to justice, as he didn't want all that much attention.

Lucy, surprised by her older brother's modesty, nonetheless agreed to silence when it came to Lincoln's involvement in this matter. The gothic Loud sister did warn Lincoln that she had found a bit of inspiration in Lincoln's actions for a few bits of her own writing, although she did say that it would be in poetic syntax, and no one would be able to tell from the writing that Lucy was talking about him.

Finding a bit of good humor in this, Lincoln said that it was fine. The two siblings just stood there in the bedroom, younger sister hugging her older brother out of gratitude for something big that he did for her. As far as Lincoln was concerned, it was no big deal.

That's what older brothers were for, after all.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER NINE

Author's note:

Yvonne Skinner was the first OC that I used in this story as an antagonist for an arc. Seeing as how it was Lucy who Lincoln was avenging here, I figured the antagonist would have to have a lot in common with Lucy in order to give the plot here as much impact as possible; that's when it hit me to come up with a published writer who had a rather dark and unprofessional secret. And thus, Yvonne was born.

Anyway, I think it's safe to say that a lot of people in the story lost a lot of respect for Yvonne; fans of her 'work', Lincoln who respected her since she had co-labbed with Bill Buck on an issue of Ace Savvy, Bill Buck himself as he learned the woman he worked with plagiarized a lot of her work (no, Bill DIDN'T know until news got out), and the list goes on. But enough about all of that business. The next arc will see Lincoln look into something regarding higher education.

Next time: Scientific Investigation


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter ten: Scientific Investigation part one- A study in sibling relationships

Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, was sitting on the couch in his family's living room, watching something on TV with his older sisters Lori and Lynn, and younger sister Lucy. "Wow," Lucy remarked as the show that she and her older siblings were watching went to commercial break, "I never would have expected him to pick Carly. She's one of the more overweight girls that has been on the show to date, and the guys have never picked overweight girls."

"Marten literally should have picked Karen instead," Lori remarked, looking mildly annoyed by the result of the show she was watching, "She was the best looking girl out of the lot, certainly more so that frigg'in Carly."

Lincoln turned his head to look at his oldest sister. "…And yet take a look about five or so years back, Lori, back when you were in middle school," the sole Loud boy said, getting Lori to turn to face him, "Bobby had a crush on you, even _before_ that makeover you got." The oldest Loud sister was taken aback by the reminder that she had just been given. "Yeah, just because a girl doesn't have a look that society says is the look girls should have doesn't mean there won't be any guys who will like how she looks," Lincoln remarked. Gesturing to the TV, the white-haired boy continued, "Carly was just lucky enough to find a guy who isn't shallow."

"You…you do have point, Lincoln," Lori said, clearly humbled.

The four siblings continued to talk during the commercials, waiting for the show to resume. As they talked, their younger sister Lisa came walking over. "Ahem," the brainy Loud sister said, getting Lincoln, Lucy, Lynn and Lori to turn to regard her. "I am very close to completing yet another invention of mine, sibling units," Lisa declared, "However, before I can confirm if it is ready or not, I need someone to test it for me. Don't worry, I assure you that it's as simple as operating the remote control for the TV."

"Yo, I'll do it," Lynn said as she got up. However, Lisa cut her athletic older sister off.

"It's very generous of you to volunteer your services, Lynn," remarked the brainy Loud sister, "But I was actually intending to procure Lincoln's assistance in this matter."

Curious about the fact that Lisa was specifically seeking him out, and somewhat suspecting that she had yet another invention she believes would take care of his bad left leg, Lincoln decided to humor his genius four-year-old sister. Getting up from the couch, Lincoln said, "Alright, Lisa, just lead the way."

"Thank you for your time, Lincoln," Lisa said as she turned around and proceeded to make her way up to her and Lily's room, with Lincoln following close behind.

* * *

When Lincoln and Lisa reached the door to the latter's room, Lisa ushered Lincoln inside before heading in herself, closing the door behind her. Taking a quick look around the room, the sole Loud boy figured out that, surprisingly, Lisa didn't have any sort of invention out, or experiment going on for that matter.

"…Umm, okay," Lincoln said in a confused, unsure tone, "Lisa, would you mind telling me what it is that has you-" The white-haired boy was cut off when Lisa let out a happy, excited squeal as she did a little dance that was basically just her tiptoeing in place really quickly. "I…take it that something good happened recently?" Lincoln asked.

Lisa took a few seconds to calm down before she could explain herself to Lincoln. "Apologies for getting excited, Lincoln," Lisa said, "But I not only received a VIP invitation to this year's annual Inventors of Royal Woods symposium, but I was also asked to be the first to present something in the new inventions showcase!"

Ah, now Lincoln understood why Lisa was acting like Lola and Lana after they were given one box of brownie snack cakes each. Something like this symposium business sounded like it was right up Lisa's alley. However, the sole Loud boy didn't understand what part in all of this that he was supposed to play, so he asked Lisa about it.

Sighing in a mildly troubled tone, Lisa explained, "Unfortunately, neither of our parental units are available to chaperone me, and both of them don't want me going alone. Hence where you come in, Lincoln." Looking up at Lincoln with more than a hint of pleading than what Lincoln would normally expect out of her, Lisa said, "If it isn't too much trouble, I would like for you to fulfil the role of chaperone to keep an eye on me at the Inventors of Royal Woods symposium."

"When is it?" Lincoln asked.

"This Friday at seven PM," Lisa replied, "In the ballroom of that high end hotel here in Royal Woods."

"You mean 'The Royal Woods'?" Lincoln asked as he gave the name of a hotel.

Nodding in the affirmative, Lisa replied, "Yes, Lincoln, the hotel who shares its name with our city, causing no end of confusion for a lot of people." Lincoln nodded in agreement with what Lisa said about the hotel's name causing a lot of confusion, and after thinking about it for a bit to remember if he had anything going on in that time frame, Lincoln told Lisa that he was free to help her with her thing, as he didn't have anything that would make him say otherwise.

Nodding once in appreciation, Lisa said, "Thank you for volunteering your time to escort me, Lincoln. I am positive that you will have a good time seeing everything that everyone at the symposium will be presenting."

"That reminds me," Lincoln began. After Lisa regarded him with a curious look, Lincoln asked, "What do _you_ intend to show off at this symposium thing?" The brainy Loud sister, after she processed her older brother's question, actually let out a bit of an amused laugh, which prompted Lincoln to do the same. Yeah, Lincoln could already tell that this Friday night was going to be a very interesting event.

* * *

"…So, you wanted to discuss something with me, Chandler?" Lincoln asked, his tone neutral yet cool, as the white-haired boy spoke with the red-headed boy in front of him. The sole Loud boy had no idea what to make of the conceited boy wanting to speak with him alone, and unless he was given a good enough reason to do so, he didn't see why he should bother to stick around longer than absolutely necessary.

For as long as he could remember, Lincoln had always been at odds with the conceited boy who stood in front of him; a minor incident from a little while ago where Chandler had shoved Lincoln to the ground outside of a convenience store was still a little fresh in the sole Loud boy's mind. So, as one could imagine, what the conceited boy said piqued Lincoln's interest.

"I'm sorry," were the first words out of Chandler's mouth.

…Huh, now _that_ was something that Lincoln was not expecting out of Chandler's mouth. What's more was that Lincoln could just tell that the red-headed boy didn't have any sort of ulterior motive; this was legit. Chandler was being apologetic, being remorseful, and being _humble_. So, as one could imagine, the white-haired boy wanted to dig a little deeper.

"You're sorry for…" Lincoln said, "…What, exactly? Shoving me to the ground outside of that convenience store? You and your friends fighting my younger sister Lana three-on-one even though you guys lost to her? All of the times you've called me 'Larry' even though you know full well what my real name is? Or is this some sort of all-around apology meant to cover all of the crap you've done over the years?"

"Yes," Chandler remarked, clearly humbled by experiences that he's had, "And more than that." When the red-headed boy said that last part, Lincoln's interest was piqued once again. "I heard that you were one of the people who were hurt in the attack on our school a couple of months ago," Chandler began to explain, "Although I don't know the extent of any of the damage that anyone hurt in that attack received. I'm just going around apologizing to everyone who was hurt in that attack, as well apologize to the families of those who were…" Chandler stopped short, clearly uncomfortable with what he was about to say. "…Who were killed," the red-headed boy finished, shuddering a bit after saying that last bit.

Now _this_ was interesting to Lincoln. Chandler was going around giving condolences to the victims of the RWES attack from a few months ago? This was not something that the sole Loud boy would have ever expected out of Chandler, although the next thing that the red-headed boy said did fill in a few things for Lincoln. "I mean, people were seriously hurt, if not outright killed, Lincoln," Chandler continued, "At a school. OUR school. Something like that, well, it can change how things are run, how people function moving forward. Even if some of those people weren't anywhere near the school at the time."

Lincoln was only curious at first, but now he was interested (can you blame him, given his history with Chandler?). The white-haired boy did hear of how some of the kids who missed school the day the attack took place were changed by what had happened; Lincoln's elementary school-aged sisters were a clear testament to that. But now _Chandler_ as well? And how he was humbling himself here to try and mend things between him and Lincoln. This was interesting, at least enough so for Lincoln to want to see where it would lead.

"So…what are you going to do?" Chandler asked, a mild hint of curiosity mixed into his expression, one made of humility and concern, "…Can we at least bury the hatchet?"

The sole Loud boy said nothing for a few moments, and just looked at Chandler. After that time, Lincoln cracked a bit of a self-amused smile. "…Are you aware that you referred to me by my actual name as opposed to 'Larry'?" Lincoln asked.

Chandler had a look of mildly confused surprise on his face as he thought about what Lincoln had said. After a few moments, the red-headed boy proceeded to laugh a bit, drawing laughter out of Lincoln in the process. "Heh, yeah," Chandler remarked, "I guess that I did." To the red-headed boy's relieved elation, Lincoln had agreed to bury the hatchet between the two of them. Although they were still far from it, the two boys had begun to walk a road that would lead to them becoming friends.

"So, Lincoln," Chandler began, "What are you going to do this weekend?"

"Well my younger sister has some big thing at that Inventors of Royal Woods symposium event this Friday," Lincoln explained, "I'm going along to keep an eye on her and see what she's going to present to the other inventors that will be there."

After Lincoln explained his plans, Chandler looked at him with a look of curiosity. "…I actually heard about that symposium happening," the red-headed boy remarked, "How old is this sister of yours who is going to present at it?"

"Four," replied the sole Loud boy, holding up four fingers to emphasis his answer.

"So YOU'RE the guy at school who I've heard has some crazy-genius little sister," Chandler remarked while pointing at Lincoln, "Wow, man. I knew that you had some interesting sisters, but for super-young super-smarty to be one of them?" Gently shaking his head out of casual disbelief, the red-headed boy continued, "That's pretty wild."

The two boys exchanged a few more pleasantries before they took their leave, with Lincoln needing to go home and Chandler not quite yet done with his list of people he had to go give condolences to. The two of them parted on relatively good terms, something that Lincoln had thought would never occur between him and Chandler.

As he was lone while he walked to the next party that he wanted to give condolences to, Chandler sighed inward. "_I still can_'_t believe those guys attacked the school because they wanted to get back at dad_," the red-headed boy thought, clearly troubled by something.

* * *

It was Friday, the night of the Inventors of Royal Woods symposium in the ballroom of '_The Royal Woods_'. Although unable to stick around for the event, Lori was available just enough to drop off Lisa and Lincoln, then come back to pick them up when the symposium was over. When she was told by Lisa that she was going to bring an invention to present, Lori was at first concerned that whatever it was that her brainy younger sister invented wouldn't be able to fit in Vanzilla. But when she saw Lisa bringing a box roughly the size of the average microwave over to the Loud family's van, the oldest Loud sister was relieved, as well as a little bit curious as to what it was that Lisa had come up with for the symposium.

As Lincoln helped Lisa with carrying the box containing the secret invention out of Vanzilla, Lori said, "You guys can call me when the thing is over, alright?"

Scoffing a bit in a mildly annoyed tone, Lisa said, "The Inventors of Royal Woods symposium is not a mere 'thing', as you have so bluntly called it. It is a once-a-year event where the greatest minds of the scientific community here in Royal Woods comes together to-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I literally get it," Lori said, cutting Lisa off mid-rant before wishing Lisa good luck and telling both Lisa and Lincoln that she'll be seeing them later. The brainy Loud sister shrugged of her older sister's blatant disregard for the importance of this night before asking Lincoln to help her pick the box back up.

* * *

The ballroom of '_The Royal Woods_' was set up with a stage at the one end and numerous tables scattered throughout the rest of the area. Each table had five chairs seated at them, and at one such table was Lincoln and Lisa, who were joined by a few professors from the university that Lisa occasionally gives lectures at, one a Pilipino woman who was roughly a decade younger than Rita but roughly double Rita's weight, and the other an older Caucasian man who had a tall and had a somewhat lanky build; this man also had a bit of a bald spot on the back of his head, contrasting his somewhat spiky bluish-gray hair.

"Oh, so you're Lisa's older brother," the Pilipino woman said to Lincoln in a friendly tone a few minutes before the symposium started.

"Of c-course he's Lisa's *URP* brother," the older Caucasian man said to the Pilipino scientist. Gesturing to Lincoln, the older Caucasian man continued, "I mean, l-look at this kid's chrome dome! It's j-just like what L-Lisa said her brother *URP* looked like!"

The sole Loud boy was a bit concerned that his four-year-old sister associated with a man like this older Caucasian scientist; he did not seem like he'd be a good role-model for Lisa. Or for anyone, for that matter. But Lincoln shook that concern out of his mind, if only because one of the scientists at the symposium walked onto the stage and grabbed the microphone from the stand it was on.

This scientist was a middle age Caucasian man; older than Lynn Sr. but younger than Albert (aka Pop-Pop). He was somewhat slimmer than Lynn Sr., but not to the extent that he was lanky like the rude Caucasian scientist seated at Lisa's table. This man had greying light brown hair, and he wore a white lab coat that was closed (so you couldn't see what he wore underneath it), light tan pants, and brown dress shoes.

"Excuse me, everyone," the scientist said, "But we're going to begin the Inventors of Royal Woods symposium now. Can we have Lisa Loud come up on stage and present what she has brought with her?"

At that prompting, Lisa got up and proceeded to carry her mystery box to the stage. As Lisa left the table she was at, everyone else at the various tables proceeded to applaud the brainy Loud sister; Lincoln and the Pilipino woman both cheered for Lisa while the older Caucasian man pumped a fist into the air while saying, "Go kick some ass, kid!"

After getting up onto the stage with her mystery box, Lisa was handed the microphone before she began her presentation. "Thank you all for having me here, my fellow scientists," Lisa began, "You all have no idea how truly humbled I am to have been invited to present at the symposium this year, given my relatively shorter amount of time spent in the field compared to everyone else here. And you may rest assured that what I have to present will be well worth the time of everyone here."

Lisa turned around to face her mystery box. From what Lincoln was able to see from where he sat, Lisa seemingly pushed a few small keys on the mystery box. After Lisa was done, her mystery box proceeded to transform, as if it had more than meets the eye. Surprisingly enough, the mystery box turned into a table that had what looked like a cardboard display on it, and in front of the display were two items; one an orange pill bottle and the other a flashdrive.

Grabbing the flashdrive, Lisa put it into the laptop that was on the podium next to the microphone stand, thus allowing her to set up a slideshow presentation. The first slide on Lisa's slideshow was a simple blank white slide with the word 'Epidemic' in big bold black letters. "Fellow scientists," Lisa began as she spoke into the microphone, "As much of a hard pill it is to swallow, this country is facing an epidemic. And many of you must be wondering what kind of epidemic I'm talking about. Well, it's a pretty simple answer…"

…

Later, after all of the scientists at the symposium had a chance to present their inventions, the rest of the evening's events followed. That included dinner, which Lisa, the scientists and Lincoln found to be quite enjoyable. "Wow, so _that_'_s_ the invention that you were planning to present at the symposium," Lincoln said to his younger sister, "A new medicine that you developed!"

"It sounds l-like it is going t-to be a *URP* kickass med, kid," the older male scientist said, "And about damn t-time that someone had the b-balls to pre*URP*sent a new medicine! Why the hell do these p-pissy scientists always got to show off s-some *URP*'in gizmo that looks like it was bought at a-a toy store for twenty frigg'in bucks?!"

"I agree," the Filipino scientist said, "That medical drug you developed will revolutionize modern medicine, and there's no shortage of people in this country alone who would greatly benefit from getting a prescription from their doctors of that drug, myself included."

As the brainy Loud sister nodded in thanks for all of the praise her brother and colleagues were giving her, the scientist from the stage who introduced Lisa to the audience, the middle-aged Caucasian man, came walking over to the table where Lisa and her party sat. "Young lady, I have to say that you certainly blew the expectations of a lot of people here out of the water," the middle-aged scientist said, getting Lisa and everyone at the table to turn to face him.

"Oh, Professor Wally," Lisa said as she acknowledged the middle-aged scientists, "I certainly wasn't expecting you to personally come over to congratulate me."

The middle-aged scientist, apparently called Professor Wally, replied by saying, "Wasn't expecting me? Well why weren't you?" Casually gesturing to Lisa with his right hand, Professor Wally continued, "After all, not only did you present what is arguably tonight's most well-received invention, but it's the first medicine that's ever been presented at the symposium! The field of medical science is strangely ignored by the scientists who have presented here and in symposiums of the past, and I'm glad to see that it finally got some spotlight!"

"That's ex*URP*actly what I'm saying!" the older scientist said.

To Lisa, Professor Wally said, "Young lady, if it would be okay with you, I believe that your revolutionary pharmaceutical drug ought to be brought to the attention of the public as a whole. Why, it would be nothing short of a crime against humanity if so wonderful an invention is never produced on a large scale so that others can benefit from it."

"I was planning to have the formula for the medicine patented as soon as it's examined and approved by the FDA," Lisa remarked.

Nodding in understanding, Professor Wally said, "Yes, that is the wise choice to make. Hopefully people all over will see your new medicine in local pharmacies sooner rather than later." Turning around slightly, Professor Wally said as he walked away, "Enjoy the rest of your evening, young lady."

After the middle-aged scientist was gone, Lisa and her party turned back around to face each other. "Wow, Professor Wally actually acknowledged my efforts," Lisa remarked, sounding like she had just received the ultimate in praise.

The Filipino scientist and the older Caucasian scientist sitting at Lisa's table both agreed about Professor Wally praising Lisa's efforts was a rather big deal, in the process denoting the middle-aged scientist as a rather important figure in Royal Wood's scientific community. But while the people of science were more or less singing Professor Wally's praises, Lincoln could not shake the feeling that Professor Wally wasn't all that acknowledging of the brainy four-year-old.

Oh well. It's probably nothing.

* * *

After the symposium was brought to a close, Lincoln and Lisa were waiting outside of '_The Royal Woods_', as Lincoln had called Lori to let her know that he and Lisa were ready to be picked up. "So Lisa," Lincoln began in a casual conversational tone, "Were you nervous when you had to go up to present what you brought to the symposium?"

"Nonsense," the brainy Loud sister replied, "In my four years of life thus far, I have only gotten nervous once, and that was when I was trying to confess to David how I felt about him." Patting her transforming box, which had been reverted to its box form, Lisa continued, "Compared to that, my having to present in front of everyone at the symposium was nothing."

Lincoln nodded in acknowledgement of what Lisa had said, mostly in agreement with how telling someone you like can be nerve-wracking. After all, the white-haired boy had once confessed his feelings to a girl that he had a crush on. There was also a girl who confessed to Lincoln that she had a crush on him, and she was a bit…aggressive…when it came to her telling the sole Loud boy how she felt about him. But that's getting off subject.

As the two Loud siblings were waiting for their pickup, a dark-dressed man (the lack of pronounced chest made it clear it's a man) wearing a ski mask came running up to them suddenly. Lincoln and Lisa both saw this man, but before either of them could react, he shoved them both over with foot slams to their respective stomachs (they both sat on the sidewalk), grabbed Lisa's transforming box, then ran off before either Loud sibling could recover.

Groaning more out of tiredness than pain, Lincoln said, "Hey Lisa, are you okay?"

Gently shaking her head, the brainy Loud sibling said, "Physically, I am going to be fine. But there's a more pertinent matter to point out." Gesturing to where her transforming box had been sitting, Lisa said, "That masked thief made off with my presentation, which included a sample of the pharmaceutical that I presented tonight at the symposium."

"Do you have any idea who could have stolen your new medicine?" Lincoln asked.

Standing up, Lisa said as she dusted herself off, "Judging by how swiftly the thief moved and how forcefully they shoved us over, I would guess that it was a physically healthy and able person in their early to mid-twenties, or perhaps a taller than normal person around the same age as our eldest sister."

"Why do you think they would steal your presentation?" Lincoln asked.

"My guess would be because they wanted to try and steal my new medicine and patent it as their own creation," Lisa replied, "Unfortunately for them, I still have some of the new medicine back at home, and I can prove that I invented the medicine first."

Lincoln sighed in a resigned tone; sure, he was glad that whoever robbed Lisa just now would ultimately fail to get away with whatever it was that they were doing/planning, the but fact of the matter was that not only was Lisa just robbed, but she was shoved over onto the ground. Lisa, despite all that she had accomplished thus far in her life, despite how intelligent she may be, is not only one of Lincoln's sisters, but she's just a _four_-_year_-_old_ girl. As far as the sole Loud boy was concerned, you do NOT bully a four-year-old girl like that.

Especially if said four-year-old girl is his sister.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER TEN

Author's note:

What's this? A middle-aged scientist at the symposium was acting somewhat suspicious just a few hours before Lisa was robbed of her presentation, which was arguably one of the most well-received inventions of the evening? The mystery thickens! Who can say where this is going to lead Lincoln, who is already planning to go about avenging the injustice that had been dealt to his second-youngest sister? There's only one way to find out.

As a side note, Chandler cleaning up his act in this chapter, or at least trying to start it, is part of something of a Plus Ultra nature that I have planned for later down the line, well after 'One reason' is finished. But that is still some time off, especially considering I have to add a few additions to the one-shot collection when I finish this story. Even so, look forward to seeing Chandler in a new light.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter eleven: Scientific Investigation part two- A thesis on avenging

To say that the other Loud sisters shared Lincoln's feeling on the matter of what happened to Lisa after the symposium would be something of an understatement. At a Loud sibling meeting held in Lori and Leni's bedroom about half an hour after Lori had brought Lincoln and Lisa home, the others were already discussing what to do to go about tracking down whoever it was that decided to rob the second-youngest of their collective number.

"I say we gather a posse," Lynn began, her tone making it clear she was peeved that two of her siblings had been hurt (Lincoln was also shoved, mind you), "Track this guy down, and do to him what posses did to criminals in the old Wild West days!"

"I say we should literally get Bobby and a few of his friends to find the guy and beat the ever-loving hell out of him," Lori remarked.

"Would that, like, include Aggro?" Leni asked as she turned to face her older sister, "Because his grandfather recently gave him another one of those Japanese wooden swords that had apparently belonged to Aggro's late dad, so now he can totes dual-wield!"

"I say we find out where the guy lives," Lana began, "Dig a ten foot wide by ten foot deep trench around his house, fill said trench with water, and put a bunch of alligators in the trench! That'll teach him for shoving Lisa and Lincoln over and stealing Lisa's thing!"

Lola looked like she was about to offer a suggestion, but she and everyone else was cut off by a loud whistling sound. Looking over, the girls all saw Lincoln standing with Lisa; it was the sole Loud boy who had blown the whistle. Seeing that the rest of his sisters were all looking at him and Lisa, Lincoln turned to his brainy younger sister and gestured for her to speak her piece.

"Thank you, Lincoln," Lisa said to her older brother before turning to face her older sisters and Lily (who is Lisa's _younger_ sister). "Girls," Lisa began, "As much as I appreciate the sentiment, it is unnecessary to go so far in tracking down slash disciplining the brute who shoved me and Lincoln over before stealing and making off with my presentation and a sample of the medicine that I had developed. I am able to prove that it was I who invented said medicine, so if the thief tries to patent it as his own, I can prove that he stole it from me."

The other Loud sisters all looked around at each other, exchanging mildly surprised looks. "But he shoved you and Lincoln over," Lynn pointed out.

"Which means he'll not only get charged with theft, but assault on minors as well," Lisa replied dryly. Looking at her sisters, the brainy four-year-old said, "Trying to track down the thief and give him bloody overkill is not going to do anyone any good in the long run. I say we let those who know what they're doing handle things here." Giving her sisters one final knowing look, Lisa added, "They'll get justice for me and Lincoln here. We ought to trust that."

The other sisters looked around at each other for a bit before they turned their attention back to where Lisa and Lincoln stood. "…You have a point, Lisa," Luan remarked, "I think we ought to take a more reasonable approach here." The rest of the sisters nodded in agreement before Lori switched things to the next issue to be discussed at that sibling meeting.

…

After everyone left Lori and Leni's room (aside from Lori and Leni as they slept there), Lincoln met up with Lisa in the hallway. "I have to say, Lisa," Lincoln remarked, "You handled things pretty well, both in what happened to you AND in getting our sisters to settle down and not go out to try and play hero."

"Trust me, Lincoln," Lisa began as she turned around and looked up slightly to face him, "I am still very much upset by what happened after the symposium, probably more so than all of our sisters combined. But one thing that I am NOT going to do is blow my top over it." Adjusting her glasses slightly, the brainy four-year-old continued, "I have contingencies for a reason. Now then, if you'll excuse me, I'll be going to bed now."

Lincoln nodded in understanding as he saw his second-youngest sister head to her bedroom. The white-haired boy followed along shortly, as his own bedroom was located close to Lisa's. Heading into his room and closing the door behind him, Lincoln got dressed to go to bed before he sat down on the side of his bed. Letting out a long breath, the sole Loud boy could not help but feel that the events of the evening were NOT what he would have liked. One of his younger sisters had not only been shoved over onto the ground, but she had also been robbed of a new medicine that she had invented, and by someone who is most likely going to try and pass off Lisa's work as their own.

After laying down on his bed so that he could to go to sleep, Lincoln was, despite what Lisa had said to their sisters, thinking about how to go about avenging what had happened to the brainy four-year-old.

* * *

True to Lisa's word, the various safeguards that she had in place ahead of time ensured that whoever it was that had shoved her over onto the ground and made off with what she had brought with her to the symposium would not be able to try and pass off her newly invented medicine as a creation of their own. In fact, the brainy Loud sister, after submitting a sample of her newly invented medicine to the FDA, put the medicine's formula on a patent-hold list; better safe than sorry.

And yet despite Lisa having done everything to ensure that the thief's efforts would be for not, whoever it was that had stolen her stuff that night has yet to make any matter of move. Lisa's siblings, however, were all still concerned about the thief that was still out there, as they had assaulted and stolen from Lisa. To her credit, Lisa understood the concern of her older siblings, as well as the worried whining from baby Lily, and she assured them that the thief, whoever they may have been, will eventually slip up, at which point they will be captured by police.

Lisa's honeyed words were not enough for the sole Loud boy, however.

Lincoln, ever the good brother, was not going to stand by and do nothing while the person who assaulted/robbed his brainy little sister was still running about Royal Woods unchecked. Figuring that the only reason why someone would blatantly rob Lisa outside of the symposium was because they knew what she had (would _you_ steal a box you knew nothing about and had no idea what was inside?), Lincoln decided to make a little trip on his new bike (with a color scheme appropriate for boys; it was a birthday gift from Pop-Pop and Gram-Gram) back to '_The Royal Woods_', as he wanted to see a few things.

"Hey there, young man," the security guard, a mid-twenties Caucasian woman with a Texan/southern accent, said as she greeted Lincoln when he showed up to the hotel's security office. This woman was about as tall and slim as Lori; she had long straw-blonde hair in a single ponytail that rested over her right shoulder, and she wore a standard security guard's uniform. "Is there something that I can do for you, sugar?" the security lady asked.

"Do you have security footage from the night of the symposium where all of the scientists were there?" Lincoln asked.

"Sure I do, hun," the security lady replied in a kind, casual tone, "Why do you ask?" With a bit of a knowing, playfully mischievous look on her face, the security lady asked, "Are you trying to play detective? I got a little cousin about your height, and he loves those Ace Savvy comics."

"I'm actually trying to find out something important," the white-haired boy replied, "I'm hoping that getting a look at the security footage from the night of the symposium would help me figure out what I'm hoping to find out."

The security lady nodded in understanding before turning around, going over to a monitor setup in the security office, sitting down in a chair, and pulled up a few things. When the security lady was done, Lincoln saw a number of recordings from the night of the symposium; he even spotted himself and Lisa in a few of the recordings. The white-haired boy paid close attention to all of the recordings made during Lisa's presentation at the symposium. He was looking for anything or anyone that had even the barest hint of being off or suspicious.

That Professor Wally character seemed to arouse Lincoln's suspicion, but looking at the middle-aged scientist in the recordings, Lincoln ruled him out as the person who shoved over and stole from Lisa. …But then again, Professor Wally could have simply hired someone to do the job for him. The sole Loud boy was about to look over a few of the other scientists when some sudden movement in a recording on one of the monitors caught his eye. Looking over, Lincoln saw a fairly young-looking male security guard.

This guard was dressed much the same way as the security lady in the room with Lincoln; this young male security guard, also Caucasian, looked to be about a year or so younger than Bobby and Aggro. He had shoulder length jet black hair and the same physical build as the aforementioned eighteen-year-olds. The sole Loud boy noticed how this young male security guard was keeping his eyes firmly looking up at the stage while Lisa was up there, while every so often darting said eyes back and forth.

"Oh, him?" the security lady said when Lincoln pointed out the younger male security guard that caught his attention, "Yeah, that's Heath. He's a relatively new hire here at _The Royal Woods_. Poor kid; he had to drop out of Royal Woods High School and take a full-time job here as a security guard because his dad died of cancer. Heath's also got a mom who is wheelchair bound because she lost a foot to diabetes, as well as a little sister who's too young to do much of anything." Turning her head to regard Lincoln, the security lady asked, "Is there anything about Heath that got your attention?"

"I'm…going to want to talk to him, yes," Lincoln replied.

Gesturing to the door that leads into the security office, the security lady said, "Well sugar, ifn you wanna wrangle up Heath, you best get going. He gets off at five every afternoon, and the clock says that it's two minutes past five."

"Yeah, I'll have to go catch up to him," Lincoln remarked, the barest hint of urgency in his tone (he didn't want to sound too urgent, lest he arouse more suspicion than needed).

Before Lincoln made it far enough to the door, the security lady got up, caught up to Lincoln and put a hand on his shoulder from behind, making him stop and turn around to look up at her. "You ought to go west on Fifth, heading straight for the convenience store that's located on the corner of Fifth and Stone," the security lady suggested, "Heath walks down on Fifth like that every day after work to make his way home."

Lincoln nodded in thanks, memorizing the security lady's directions before finally taking his leave from the security office of '_The Royal Woods_'. After leaving, Lincoln made his way to the bike rack, unlocked his bike, hopped on and proceeded to pedal his way to Fifth. Already knowing about the convenience store the security lady was talking about, the white-haired boy turned around when he reached Fifth and proceeded to ride in the right direction.

* * *

Lincoln had been riding for a few minutes, a bit worried that he may not be able to spot Heath. About halfway to the convenience store on the corner of Fifth and Stone, however, the sole Loud boy spotted an older teen boy who matched the look of Heath. As he picked up the speed a bit on his bike, Lincoln called out, "Hey, Heath!" This made the older teen boy stop and turn around, thus allowing him to see Lincoln come riding closer to him.

"Can you hold up a bit, Heath?" the white-haired boy called out after Heath spotted him, "I wanna ask you a few questions!" However, not one second after Lincoln had called out to him, Heath did something that Lincoln was hoping that he wouldn't do, even though doing so cast more suspicion on the older teen boy.

He turned around and proceeded to bolt.

Annoyed that he was now on a chase, Lincoln proceeded to pedal harder, ignoring the twinge of pain in his left leg as he did so. Heath on foot was about as fast as Lincoln riding on a bike; if it wasn't for Lincoln's left leg still being injured, he could very well have been able to go fast enough to catch up to the fleeing teen. "Hey!" Lincoln shouted as he chased Heath, "Why are you running? I just want to talk to you!"

Heath said nothing as he continued to run away from Lincoln. Despite having a bit of a lead and not being injured, Heath wasn't quite able to leave the white-haired boy in his dust; his long day from putting in a full shift at work must have made him tired. Lincoln was hoping that this little chase wouldn't last too much longer, because he was getting tired himself. Luckily for Lincoln, a familiar Mastiff came running up to Heath; this made the older teen boy stop because the large and friendly dog wanted to sniff him. Further luckily for Lincoln, a familiar Hispanic tomboy was holding the leash attached to the Mastiff's collar.

"Holy geez, Lalo," Ronnie Anne said in a mildly annoyed tone, "You don't have to drag me over to every person that-" Stopping short as she looked up at Heath, Ronnie Anne said, "Hey, aren't you that Heath guy from the same high school my older brother Bobby goes to?"

"You mean Bobby Santiago?" Heath asked, and after the Queen of Pain nodded in the affirmative Heath continued with a hint of hastiness in his tone, "Yeah, I went to Royal Woods High but had to drop out, but I do know your brother. Listen Bobby's little sister, I kind of have to get going, otherwise I'll-"

"Ronnie Anne!" Lincoln cried out, getting Ronnie Anne, Heath and Lalo to look over and see Lincoln getting closer and closer on his bike. "He bolted when I said I wanted to ask him a few questions!" the sole Loud boy said loudly, "I think he knows something about what happened to me and Lisa a few nights ago at the symposium!"

A bit rattled to see that the kid who was chasing him was getting closer, Heath tried to run, but Ronnie Anne, who was backed up by Lalo, cut him off; Ronnie Anne even grabbed ahold of Heath's right wrist. "You bolted the instant that Lincoln said that he wanted to ask you a couple of questions?" the Hispanic tomboy said in a suspicious tone, "Yeah, way to go on not looking like you have something to hide." Lalo, now aware that this older teen boy was a person of interest to question about bad things, growled at Heath as he looked up at him.

To his credit, Heath, when Lincoln had finally caught up, realized that this was not something that he would be able to get out of.

* * *

Heath was sitting on the pavement right outside of the convenience store on the corner of Fifth and Stone. Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Lalo were looking down at the older teen boy where he sat, not intending on letting him leave. "Just so you know, Heath," Ronnie Anne remarked, "My older brother, as well as Astrid's older brother Aggro, both know where you live. If you try to bolt again and end up getting away, Lincoln and I can always find you."

"Yeah, I know that Bobby and Aggro know where I live," Heath replied, his tone sounding defeated and resigned, "I may have dropped out of Royal Woods High, but my friends from there and I still hang out regularly."

"I was only going to ask you a few questions about an incident involving myself and my younger sister Lisa from the night of the symposium that was held in the ballroom of the hotel you work at," Lincoln began, "But since I saw you try to flee the moment I saw that you noticed me, I'm pretty sure you know more than most would assume."

Turing to regard the white-haired boy, Ronnie Anne said in a mildly confused tone, "Speaking of, Lincoln, what is the incident you're talking about?"

"While Lisa and I waited outside the hotel when the symposium ended," Lincoln began, "Since Lori was our pickup, a masked guy came running over, shoved both me and Lisa over, then stole the box Lisa had brought with her, with said box containing both her presentation on the new medicine that she developed and a sample of said medicine."

Turning her attention back to Heath, Ronnie Anne said, "Alright, Heath. If what Lincoln said is true and if you're connected, that means you shoved over someone who is rather close to me." Cracking her knuckles, the Hispanic tomboy continued in a bit of a threatening manner, "I hope that whatever reason you have is a good one. Otherwise I'm going to find out if the job you have provides dental!"

Sighing once again in a resigned tone, Heath held up both of his hands in a gesture of admitting defeat. "…Alright, I admit it," the older teen boy began, "I was the one who pushed this white-haired kid and the smaller girl that was with him over, before grabbing the smaller girl's box and running off with it."

Right after Heath's confession, Ronnie Anne immediately tried to slug him in the face, only to be held back by Lincoln, who got the Queen of Pain to hold off for a bit. "With all due respect," the sole Loud boy said to Ronnie Anne, "I'm more entitled to punch Heath here in the face, since he did push over and steal from my younger sister."

After Ronnie Anne had settled down a bit, Lincoln turned his attention back to the older teen boy that was sitting down before him. "I kind of have to agree with Ronnie Anne about hoping that you have a good reason," the white-haired boy said, a mild, leering look of suspicion on his face, "So let's have it."

Once again, Heath let out a sigh. "…I don't suppose you two and the dog would be okay with coming with me to my family's place?" the older teen boy asked. "It would be easier for me if I could show you why I did what I did." Naturally, Ronnie Anne wasn't going to be hearing any of Heath's requests, as she was still steamed at him because he admitted to shoving Lincoln over onto the ground (an offence Ronnie Anne couldn't forgive).

Lincoln, however, was interested by Heath wanting to show rather than tell. Also, if the older teen boy did try something, Lincoln had both a full-grown Mastiff _and_ a girl that even Lynn was wary of tussling with regularly with him; Heath looked about as tough as Bobby, who Lynn is able to take down regularly, and Lincoln highly doubted that Heath had any sort of backup that could get him out of this. Besides, Lincoln had a gut feeling that the older teen boy wasn't going to try to get out of this.

"…Alright, Heath," Lincoln said, getting Ronnie Anne to turn to look at him with a mildly curious and surprised look, "Let's see what you've got to show us."

* * *

As Lincoln has suspected, he, Ronnie Anne and Lalo ended up following Heath to a residential neighborhood somewhere in Royal Woods, different from the neighborhood where Lincoln's own family, as well as the Santiago-Casagrandes, lived. The neighborhood looked somewhat poorer that the one Lincoln lived in, what with mostly just one story houses and a general look of things being somewhat run-down, but the sole Loud boy didn't see/hear/notice anything that would suggest that this was a bad neighborhood; Royal Woods _did_ have a notably (absurd) low crime rate compared to other towns/cities in the United States.

While the party of four were walking through the poorer neighborhood, Heath stopped the party, gesturing to one of the houses; this house was a one story tall number that looked like a shorter version of the Loud family residence, at least in terms of having the same general color scheme. "Yeah, that's where you and your family live," Ronnie Anne remarked as she turned to look up at Heath, "I've been here before with Bobby."

"Then you also must remember my mom Helen and my kid sister Vicky," Heath replied.

"Yeah, I remember them," Ronnie Anne remarked, "Your mother, last I saw her, was with all due respect a rather large woman who not once while I was over got off of the sofa. As for Vicky, all I remember about her is that she's about six years old, the same age as Lincoln's younger sisters Lola and Lana."

Heath nodded in the affirmative. "…Yeah, all of that is correct," the older teen boy began, "Although since you had last seen them, my mom lost a foot due to her diabetes, and Vicky had developed diabetes herself."

Heath's response drew surprised looks out of Lincoln and Ronnie Anne, the latter especially. "Hang on a minute," Ronnie Anne said, "How did your kid sister develop diabetes? She was kind of skinny when I saw her last."

"And she still is," Heath replied, "But she still developed it anyway. Luckily, it wasn't the hereditary kind, but that's getting off the point." Gesturing over to his family's house, Heath continued, "The reason why I took that box from the white-haired kid's sister is because I saw her put that bottle that contained her super medicine in said box. The medicine, according to that little girl's presentation from the symposium, can among other things completely cure diabetes." Gently shaking his head, the older teen boy went on, "My mom already lost a foot, but I'd be damned if I let the same happen to Vicky if there was something I could do about it."

Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Lalo proceeded to follow Heath inside to his family's place. "You had your kid sister take the special medicine that Lisa developed," Lincoln said to Heath; it was more of a statement than it was a question. The older teen boy merely nodded in the affirmative. "Okay, I can understand why you did what you did," the sole Loud boy said to Heath, "I mean, I can see myself doing the same thing if I was in your shoes and didn't have access to alternative answers. But there's just one thing."

Getting everyone to stop outside of Heath's family's front door, Lincoln swung his right foot up into Heath's secret treasure, scoring a critical hit. "_That_'_s_ for stealing from my younger sister," the white-haired boy said, clearly not sounding happy. Lincoln then slugged Heath across the face with his right fist, actually doing a fair bit of damage. "And _that_'_s_ for shoving her over onto the ground," Lincoln added. Dusting off his hands, Lincoln said in a neutral tone, "That should make us even, don't you think?"

"Uhhn…yeah," Heath remarked, wincing in pain as he used his hands to cover his holy land, "I had that coming." A bit weakly due to the pain in his manhood, the older teen boy proceeded to invite Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Lalo inside. He wanted for them to see how effective Lisa's medicine was in curing Vicky of her diabetes, as well as everything else that had been ailing her before she took the medicine.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER ELEVEN

Author's note:

…Yup, Lisa's presentation and the sample of her newly invented medicine wasn't stolen by a greedy jerk who had dollar signs in his eyes, it was stolen by a relatively desperate teen who only wanted to make his kid sister healthy. After all of the jerks who Lincoln had tangoed with thus far, as well as the various antagonists from 'Ten reasons', I figured that it was about high time that I attempted to make a sympathetic antagonist. Also, compared to antagonists of past arcs in this story and from 'Ten reasons', Heath probably received the lightest revenge yet (a punch in his face and a kick in his holy land). Anyway, next time will be seeing things wrap up for Lisa who not only doesn't know about what Heath had done with the medicine sample that he stole, but may be inclined to give him another dose of it for his mother; after all, the more information about how the new medicine works is gathered, the better.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter twelve: Scientific Investigation part three- A conclusion on family

When her older brother Lincoln finally returned home, Lisa was not expecting that he not only had her transforming box that was stolen from her that night after the symposium, but that Lincoln came over accompanied by Ronnie Anne. When Lisa and the other Loud sisters asked the two fifth-graders what was going on, Lincoln explained that he and Ronnie Anne, along with Ronnie Anne's family's dog Lalo (who had been returned back to their home) were all over at the residence of a friend of Bobby's and Aggro's.

"Oh yeah, I remember Heath," Lori remarked aloud as she and the other sisters watched Lincoln hand Lisa the transforming box, "My Bobby Boo-Boo Bear told me that Heath had dropped out of school because he had to take on a full-time job somewhere."

"Hang on a minute," Luan began, a look of suspicion on her face, "Is this Heath guy the jerk who shoved you and Lisa over while also stealing Lisa's special box?"

Lincoln confirmed Luan's question while also getting all of the girls to listen to his explanation; Heath was at the symposium where Lisa presented the new medicine that she had developed. After hearing Lisa list the variety of things that said medicine can cure, as well as seeing that Lisa had a dose of said medicine, Heath decided that he had to take it so that he can get his kid sister Vicky to take it, as it would cure her diabetes.

Lincoln also explained a few other things, such as Heath's reason for dropping out of Royal Woods High and a few bits that he observed from Heath's home life, which Ronnie Anne backed up, given that she was there as well. The more that the sole Loud boy, with Ronnie Anne's help, explained things to his sisters, the more that they visibly calmed down; even the more vindictive sisters such as Lori and Lynn relaxed as Lincoln and Ronnie Anne explained things.

"…You're saying that this Heath fellow gave the dose of my newly developed medicine that he stole from me to his little sister, who had been suffering from diabetes," Lisa began, her dry monotone carrying a hint of mildly piqued interest, "And that said little sister is now perfectly healthy."

"Yes," Lincoln replied, "Ronnie Anne and I saw it for ourselves."

"Hmm…" the brainy Loud sister hummed to herself, clearly looking like she was going over a few things in her head. After about a minute or so of consideration, Lisa said, "…You and Ronnie Anne also said that this Heath fellow's mother also suffers from diabetes, and that she had to have a foot removed because of it."

"Heath's mom wasn't there because she was out shopping," Ronnie Anne explained, "A sitter was over watching that Vicky kid."

The brainy Loud sister nodded in acknowledgement of Ronnie Anne's point before speaking up again. "You know," Lisa began, "Diabetes, both types one and two, are among the vast handful of various health concerns that my newly developed medicine can combat. However, I was under the impression that the medicine could only _combat_ diabetes, but if what you say is true, then it can actually outright _cure_ it."

Lisa then turned around to face the other Loud sisters. "Lori," the brainy four-year-old began, "You said that this Heath fellow is associated with Bobby and Aggro. If so, do you think you could get either of them to contact Heath for me? I would like to offer him another dose of the new medicine for his mother."

Hearing what Lisa said drew a good bit of surprise out of the other Loud sisters. "Are you serious, Lisa?" Luan said as Lori went about contacting Bobby.

With a shrug, Lisa said, "My new medicine's ability to combat diabetes is more powerful than I had expected. I am going to want to do further research on its capabilities in this regard, perhaps even get some volunteers for a case study. Oh, that reminds me." Going over to the home phone, the brainy Loud sister said as she picked the phone up to make a call, "I'm going to need to contact an associate of mine who works for the FDA and let him know about this development."

As the other sisters expressed amazement over the newly discovered capabilities of Lisa's new medicine, with some of them even cheering a bit, Lincoln only stood by and nodded gently in an approving manner.

The genius of the sole Loud boy's second-youngest sister never ceased to amaze him. Neither did said sister's generosity.

* * *

It wasn't all that long before Lisa, accompanied by Lincoln and Lori, arrived at the residence of Heath's family. After informing Heath of the extent of what she was aware of, Lisa pulled out a small pill bottle containing a dose of her newly developed medicine. Explaining that she just found out that said medicine is stronger in the appropriate regard than she had anticipated, Lisa said that she wanted Heath's mom, who is still diabetic, to take this dose.

The end result ended up confirming what Lisa suspected; just at it had done for Heath's kid sister, the medicine also ended up curing Heath's mom of her diabetes in full. As for her still missing a foot, Heath's mom would have to make do with the prosthetic foot that had been provided to her. And Heath's mom, who is undeniably a considerably well-fed woman, STILL had to continue to stick with the diet set out for her by her doctor ("Obesity is NOT something that the medicine I developed can combat," Lisa remarked).

Furthermore, paid volunteers were gathered for an experiment to see the effectiveness of Lisa's newly developed medicine when it came to combating diabetes. Not only were all volunteers cured of their diabetes, but two were cured of asthma, and a notably chubby Korean girl who also had a bit of an acne problem had her face clear up entirely. Through this, Lisa also learned that the medicine she developed can also cure asthma apparently (she was already aware of the medicine's ability to clear up acne).

…

"Hey, Lisa," Lori began during dinner one night at the Loud family residence. All thirteen members of the family turned their attention to the oldest Loud sibling, who was addressing the second-youngest member of the family. Pointing to her brainy younger sister, Lori continued, "That medicine that you developed. It's already on shelves in pharmacies, right?"

"That is affirmative, yes," Lisa replied, "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering," Lori began to explain, "Prescription drugs tend to have names, right? Seeing as how you were the person who developed it, did you come up with a name for that new medicine of yours?" Lisa had her mouth full at the time Lori finished that question, so the brainy Loud sister merely nodded in the affirmative. "Okay," the oldest Loud sister remarked, "So then, what did you name it?"

Lisa had to chew a bit and swallow what food she had in her mouth before she could speak. "Oh, I named it Lincolnzid," Lisa explained, "After our brother. Originally, I simply wanted to name it 'Lincoln', but the people in charge of trademarking medicine names thought that the name didn't sound quote 'enough like a medicine name' unquote, so I threw z-i-d at the end to placate them. And thus we have Lincolnzid, the name of my newly developed medicine."

"You…" Lincoln began when he turned his attention to Lisa, sounding mildly surprised in a flattered manner, "…Named that new medicine you developed after me?"

Turning to regard her older brother, Lisa let out a resigned sigh. "…Truth be told, Lincoln," the brainy Loud sister began, "I was originally intending to present a different medicine at the Inventors of Royal Woods symposium. This medicine would have been an effective drug to heal horrible injuries, such as what your left leg has. However, due to time constraints I was facing, along with the fact that I had to start the process of developing a drug to heal your leg all over again from scratch, I couldn't present it. Instead, I decided to present the medicine I named after you, as I had begun development on it sometime before the attack on the elementary school a few months back."

To the surprise of the brainy Loud sister, as well as some of the other sisters, their white-haired brother actually let out a bit of mildly amused chuckling. "…You're still trying to find a way to heal me, Lisa," Lincoln said; it was more a statement than it was a question. With a gentle shake of his head, the sole Loud boy continued, "I'm as touched by you continuing trying to find a way to heal me as I am unsurprised."

"…Well," Lisa began, sounding a bit embarrassed, "I don't see any reason why I should sit around doing nothing when I have the potential to undo what happened to you that day." The other members of the family thought that it was sweet how Lisa was still trying to do something to help Lincoln's left leg recover, a plan that had been on her mind more or less the instant she and the other Loud sisters had discovered what happened to their only brother.

Smiling gently, Lincoln ruffled the top of Lisa's head in an affectionate gesture; it was rather easy, given that Lisa was sitting next to Lincoln at the time. "…Lisa, you're too nice to us," Lincoln remarked, "Myself especially. Trust me, I appreciate the effort, and I would very much like it if my left leg is eventually healed." With a gentle shake of his head, the sole Loud boy added, "But there's no need to spend any and every spare moment you get trying to help me. I can wait, since time is something I've got plenty of."

"Your brother does have a point, Lisa," Rita began, getting Lisa to turn to face her, "It's nice of you to go through so much effort for one of your siblings, but you have been rather keen on trying to develop something to heal your brother. More keen than necessary." After eating a forkful of mashed potatoes, the Loud matriarch said, "This is something that you ought to take your time on, as well as take breaks when necessary."

The brainy Loud sister considered the words of her family, contemplated them for a few moments. After about a minute or so, Lisa finally said, "…Although I will by no means cease trying to develop a way to heal Lincoln's leg, I suppose you all make a point about how I've been rather exclusively focused on the matter. Taking a break to focus on various other things might be a good idea."

The other Louds were glad that Lisa was going to ease up in how frantic she was in trying to help Lincoln recover. Lincoln especially, as he didn't want his second-youngest sister to push more or less everything else to the side for his sake. Besides which, Lincoln wasn't lying about how he had a lot of time; his left leg has been like it was for the past few months now, so what's waiting a bit longer to have full use of it again?

* * *

Sometime the following morning, Lincoln was over at the Santiago-Casagrande residence, as Lori went over to be with her Bobby Boo-Boo Bear, and Lincoln used the excuse that he wanted to hang out with Ronnie Anne. And while the reason that he gave his oldest sister did have some validity, it wasn't the sole reason that the white-haired boy wanted to head over to the Santiago-Casagrande residence. However, the sole Loud boy was going to have to wait to carry out his true intentions, given that Lori was occupying Bobby's time.

Thus Lincoln was sitting on the couch in the living room with Ronnie Anne, playing against her in some manner of fighting game as Ronnie Anne's younger cousins Carl and Carlitos were both watching the fifth graders. By the time that Lori and Bobby came out from the dining room, where they were discussing something important to Lori with Bobby and Ronnie Anne's cousin Carlota, Lincoln had defeated Ronnie Anne six fights in a row, and they were legit wins, at that.

"Yeah, babe," Bobby remarked to Lori as they entered the living room, with Carlota following close behind them, "I can see how Carlota and your sister Leni would be an awesome duo when it comes to creating the best possible outfit for you to wear at the upcoming homecoming dance."

"They are literally the two most knowledgeable people I know when it comes to fashion," Lori remarked, "So of course I'm wanting to get them to help me."

Carlota, with a bit of a self-amused flattered chuckle, remarked, "Well I'm glad to see that my services are going to-"

"Hey, Bobby," Ronnie Anne said as she paused the game she and Lincoln were playing and got up from off of the sofa, prompting Lincoln to get up and follow his (more than a) friend, "Me and Lincoln want to ask you something."

"Oh sure, Nie-Nie," the Hispanic teen remarked in a friendly, casual tone, "What's up?"

"Do you know how that Heath fellow that you and Aggro-sensei are friends with is doing?" Lincoln asked.

A mild look of surprise appeared across Bobby's face upon hearing Heath's name; the mildly surprised expression soon melted away, replaced with an expression of mild amusement that suggested that something great was happening. "Oh, that," Bobby said, "Yeah, the last that me and Aggro have heard about it, our old bud Heath is actually prepping to earn a G.E.D."

"He's getting ready to earn a G.E.D?" Ronnie Anne asked, a mild look of surprise on her face. The look on Lincoln's face was similar to that of Ronnie Anne's.

Nodding twice in the affirmative, Bobby went on to say, "Yeah. Given that he had to drop out of High School in order to take up a full-time job to help support his mom and kid sister, getting his G.E.D is the next best thing aside from being able to actually graduate." Holding his right hand to his chin, Bobby had a look of mild concentration on his face, looking like he was trying to recall some important detail. Turning to face Lori, Bobby asked, "Hey babe, didn't you mention that your genius little sister is helping Heath study to earn his G.E.D?"

"Yes, Bobby," Lori replied, "Lisa is helping Heath get ready for that."

"Dang, Lincoln," Ronnie Anne said as she turned to face the sole Loud boy, "What CAN'T your various sisters do?"

Shrugging his shoulders in a gesture that was more or less of indifference, Lincoln replied, "Pfft, I don't know, keep from tearing each other a new one when I'm not around?"

Lori, despite herself, chuckled a bit in response to what her younger brother just said. "Heh, yeah," the oldest Loud sister remarked, "I can literally see why you'd say that, Lincoln." Lori and Lincoln were able to stay at the Santiago-Casagrande residence for about one more hour, which Lincoln and Ronnie Anne used to play a few more rounds of the fighting video game that they were going at each other on, while Bobby, who was challenged to a game of duel monsters by Carl, accepted.

Bobby won every game that Lincoln and Lori were present for.

* * *

Shortly after dinner that evening, Lincoln was in Lisa and Lily's room, having been asked by Lisa to meet her there after dinner. The white-haired boy was waiting for his genius younger sister to show up; Lily, who was brought up to the room by Luna at Rita's request to put the baby down for an after-dinner nap, was snoozing away in her crib. After about five minutes of waiting for Lisa to show up, Lincoln's patience was finally rewarded when the brainy Loud sister entered the bedroom.

"Shhh," Lincoln said to Lisa when her opening the bedroom door made Lily stir a bit in her sleep but ultimately still remain asleep. Jerking a thumb over to the crib, the sole Loud boy said, "Lily is taking a nap."

"Oh, I see," Lisa remarked in a somewhat softer tone upon seeing her baby sister sleeping in the crib. Turning to face her older brother, Lisa said, "Now then, Lincoln. I assume you would like to know the reason as to why I asked you to meet me up here after we and our family had finished dinner." Lincoln gave a single nod in the affirmative. Glad that she got an affirmative response from her older brother, Lisa proceeded to walk over to a desk that she had in the bedroom. "As I know you and the rest of our family are aware, Lincoln," began the second-youngest Loud sibling, "I have been tirelessly working on creating a formula for a medicine that I intend to use to fully heal your injured left leg."

"Yeah," Lincoln replied, "I also remember you agreeing to take it easy on that when mom and I both asked you to, given that you had been going at it pretty much non-stop."

Nodding once in agreement, Lisa said, "Yes, well even if both you and our mother refrained from asking me to cease my efforts, I would have had to do so on my own anyway, given what I had just learned about the treatment you received at Royal Woods General when you were rushed there following the attack on the elementary school a few months ago."

Upon hearing Lisa say that she would have had to stop trying to develop a cure to heal his injured left leg, Lincoln was curious. "…You would have had to stop anyway?" asked the white-haired boy, "Why? What did you discover?"

At that prompting, Lisa picked up a folder that was laying on her desk, opened it, and pulled out a small packet of a few sheets of paper that were stapled together at the upper left corner. "This is a file I have detailing your aforementioned treatment at Royal Woods General," the brainy Loud sister explained. Going over the file, Lisa continued, "It says here that while you were in the initial surgery you went through, a metal pin was placed in your leg to help some specific damage that was done to your leg heal."

"Huh?" Lincoln replied in a mildly confused tone, one that sounded of curiosity. After a few seconds, Lincoln said with a hint of remembrance in his tone, "Oh, yeah, now I remember what you're talking about. Yeah, dad told me about that metal pin shortly after I came home from the mall with Leni the day that mom and Lily returned from California. That metal pin in my leg is the reason why a security detector in a mall store went off on me when me, mom, Leni and Lily tried to leave the store."

"Yes, I remember mom and Leni telling me and the rest of our siblings about that," Lisa remarked, "But that's getting off subject." With a somewhat resigned sigh, the brainy Loud sister went on, "You see, Lincoln, so long as that metal pin is in your leg, there is nothing that can be done to fully heal your leg. At least until the metal pin is removed when its job is done."

Lincoln's expression became one of mild shock after he heard Lisa give her explanation about why she had to give up helping him heal entirely, at least for the time being. However, the shock quickly faded, and Lincoln's expression showed resigned acceptance. "Oh, yeah, that makes sense," the white-haired boy remarked. Nodding once, Lincoln continued, "Yeah, alright, Lisa. I can understand that."

The brainy Loud sister sighed in a troubled tone, troubled because she had, in some way, crushed at least part of her older brother's hopes. "Lincoln," Lisa began, her tone sounding troubled in an apologetic manner, "I am so sorry that you completely recovering has been-" Lisa was cut off when Lincoln gently threw his arms around her, drawing her into a hug.

"…Don't beat yourself up over this, Lisa," Lincoln said, his tone gentle and understanding, "This is something that you can't help." Letting go of Lisa, Lincoln placed his hands on her shoulders, keeping her focus squarely on him. "…Just promise me one thing," Lincoln said.

"And what would that be, Lincoln?" Lisa asked, looking up at her older and only brother.

"Although you were ultimately unable to help me," Lincoln began, "You ought to try and put some of that energy you were using into helping others." Taking his hands off of Lisa's shoulders, the sole Loud boy began to explain, "I mean, seriously. You invented a panacea, you're tutoring a High School dropout to help him study to earn a G.E.D., and numerous other things as of late. You have so much potential to do some good in the world, Lisa, which is part of the reason why I didn't want you to focus so exclusively on developing a medicine to heal my injured left leg like you had been doing."

The second-youngest Loud sister was stunned by all that her older brother had to say to her; it took her a while to digest it all. But when she had finished comprehending her brother's words, Lisa was surprised to find a stray tear running down the right side of her face, down from around her right eye. "You…" Lisa began as she looked back up at Lincoln after wiping the tear away from her face, "…You really think that I can do so much?"

Gesturing to Lisa, Lincoln replied, "I'm surprised that you hadn't realized the potential that you have yourself. You ought to cultivate your talent, your potential. Put it to good use, like you did when you invented that super medicine you presented at the symposium." Pointing to Lisa, the sole Loud boy said, "Lisa, I think that you're capable of doing something that I've only seen done in comic books with superheroes; saving the world."

The second-youngest Loud sister was stunned by what Lincoln had just declared to her, that she's capable of saving the world. She had never even thought about that, because she admittedly was more or less aiming just to prove her intellectual superiority over everyone else, up until learning what happened to Lincoln at the aforementioned attack at RWES, at which point Lisa had shifted gears to develop a cure to heal her brother's leg.

…But Lisa had to admit that Lincoln made some really good points about the good that she was capable of achieving. Lisa had been so focused on proving her intelligence for so long that she was finding herself loath to admit that she had been, in her own way, a thick-headed prideful oaf, something that Lisa would occasionally say in reference to her and Lincoln's athletic older sister. However, the brainy Loud sister had to admit that it wouldn't be unreasonable to assign such an insult to herself. Lisa couldn't believe she had made such an error.

…However, thanks to Lincoln's words, Lisa realized what she had been doing, and she vowed to herself that she would remedy the mistake that she had made. Not only that, but the second-youngest Loud sister fully intended to take her older brother's words to heart. She was going to put the energies that she had previously be putting into venerating her pride into thinking up and developing ways to better the world. Who knows how far Lisa could go, the heights that she can reach, if she just put her mind to it?

And what a mind it was.

* * *

The following morning, Lincoln was in the living room, watching TV with his older sisters Lori and Lynn, plus his younger sisters Lucy and Lisa. As the five of them watched TV, Rita walked into the house, having returned from somewhere. "Hey Lincoln, sweetie," Rita called out after closing the front door behind her, "Where are you?"

"I'm over here, mom," Lincoln called back from where he and some of the Loud sisters were sitting in the living room.

"Oh, there you are," the Loud matriarch remarked, sounding a bit embarrassed over having called out loud enough to be heard throughout the house. Walking into the living room and up to her children, Rita handed a small package to Lincoln. "This finally came in the mail from the hospital," Rita said after handing the package to Lincoln, "I suggest that you put in on right away." As Lincoln fiddled around with the package as he tried to open it, his sisters that were present were looking on as their brother was trying to open the package.

Lynn, with a curious look on her face, asked as she looked up at Rita, "Hey, mom, what's in the package that you just gave to-"

"Oh, dad said I was going to get this," Lincoln said aloud, unintentionally cutting Lynn off, as he held what was in the package, which he got open. Lynn and the other sisters that were there saw that Lincoln was holding. It was a stainless steel men's chain bracelet that had a small plate that would go over the top of the wrist. This small plate was mostly rectangular, although it had triangle-like points at both ends, which were connected to the rest of the chain bracelet. Also, the bracelet had a small hexagon-shaped engraving on the one end of the small plate; this etching was red, and there was an image of a snake wrapped around a rod or staff inside the hexagon.

As she and the other sisters who were present watched as Lincoln put the bracelet onto his left wrist, Lucy turned to Rita and asked in a mildly confused tone, "…You got Lincoln a bracelet?"

"That bracelet is not a simple accessory, my dark older sister," Lisa said, "It's a medic alert bracelet. No doubt Lincoln needs it due to the metal pin he has in his left leg."

Nodding in agreement, Rita pointed to Lisa and said to the other girls that were there, "Lisa's right, girls. In fact, your brother should have gotten that medic alert bracelet a lot sooner, but there was some serious issues keeping the people who make them backed up."

"So Lincoln has to wear it so that hospitals know to be careful with him?" Lynn asked, sounding like she was trying to figure out the deal with her brother wearing that bracelet.

"I guess that's literally one way to put it, yes," Lori remarked, "I think that some of Pop-Pop's friends at the retirement home he lives at has similar bracelets, so you can ask him for more details if you're still confused."

After Lincoln had been asked by Rita to not lose his new bracelet under any circumstances, she allowed him to continue watching TV with the sisters that were in the living room at the time. When the show that they were watching went to commercial break, Lisa took the time to tell her present siblings about some of the smaller projects that she had in mind; projects of a scale similar to the dog biscuits that she had invented so that both dogs and humans could enjoy them equally. The brainy Loud sister said she was looking into what she needed for something that was more complex, but she was keeping that something a secret for the time being. Although he had no idea about the bigger something that Lisa had planned, Lincoln already knew that it was going to be something special.

After all, he had Lisa's history as a precedent.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER TWELVE

Author's note:

The part about Lincoln having a metal pin in his left leg, with that being the reason why that security detector back in Leni's arc in 'Ten reasons' went off, along with Lincoln receiving a classic-style metal chain medic alert bracelet in this chapter, was inspired by a comment that had been left by DreadedCandiru2 back on a chapter in the aforementioned 'Ten reasons', mostly because after considering that comment, I felt it made a lot of sense. So yeah, shout out to him.

Aside from all of that, this chapter was meant to exemplify Lisa's potential which, if she's as smart as she's often displayed as being, I feel she isn't making full use of. Also, Lisa gearing up like she was in this chapter will be something of a plot point later down the line, in a work that may or may not be a straight-up Loud House story. However, that's in the non-immediate future. What _is_ in the immediate future, on the other hand, will be Lincoln taking steps to stand up for another one of his sisters after she is wronged in some way.

Lincoln might even have a good laugh or two along the way.

Next time: Funny Business


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter thirteen: Funny Business part one- Stop me if you heard this one before…

The Loud siblings, aside from Lily who was put down for a nap in her and Lisa's bedroom, were all in the dining room of their family's house one morning in Royal Woods, Michigan. It should be noted that Luan, the fourteen-year-old sister of the Loud siblings, had a guilty look on her face. As to why the comedic Loud sibling looked guilty, that would be explained by the guests that were over, those being all eight of the Ace siblings.

Although all eight of the Ace siblings were over visiting the Louds, if the look of sheer anger that was on fifteen-year-old Amy's face was any indication, she was the main party, if not the _only_ party, that had taken some degree of umbrage with…whatever it was that had compelled the Ace siblings to come over. When everyone had gathered in the Loud residence's dining room, it was oldest Loud sibling Lori who took the initiative.

With a resigned sigh, Lori began, "Amy, I am literally sorry about the prank that Luan had pulled on your pet skunk."

"Well in Luan's defense," fourteen-year-old Ace sibling Alphonse remarked, "Luan's prank was actually aimed at me because she wanted to help Benny in the little prank war that he and I have going between the two of us."

"It's bad enough that my family and I have to scrounge up the money to buy the special shampoo that's needed to wash that paint out of Spirit's fur," Amy remarked, the look on her face and the way she had her arms folded clearly indicating that she was in a foul mood, "But the prank had also made Spirit freak out. As it stands, he's still a little skittish."

Sighing once again, this time with a hint of exasperation, Lori remarked, "Look, Amy. How expensive is that special shampoo that you need to wash Spirit's fur?"

Amy gently shook her head, indicating that she had no idea how much the shampoo that she was going to need would be. Holding up a hand to get the Loud siblings' attention, Aggro said, "The special pet shampoo is going to run about two-hundred dollars and some change, after tax. While it _is_ something that we can technically afford right now, it's still a right proper pain in the ass to have to just drop money like that over something that could have been avoided."

"Relax, brah," Luna remarked to the male Ace twin, "We got you and your siblings covered." Turning to face her comedic younger sister and roommate, Luna added, "Or rather, YOU got them covered on this one, Luan."

"Excuse me?" Luan asked, looking and sounding surprised by what Luna was implying.

Nodding in agreement with Luna, Lori said, "She's literally got a point, Luan. This is your mess, so YOU have to be the one to clean it up. Besides, you do have that performance business that you run, and it does net you an income."

With a mildly conflicted look on her face, Luan said, "Well…I _do_ have the money to cover the cost of that shampoo, but it'll take up a little over a third of what I have saved up, and I need a lot of that money to cover various costs, mostly replacing slash updating some of my gear."

Pointing an accusing finger at the comedic Loud sister, Allison said, "Well you should have thought of that BEFORE you saw fit to mess with my kin, you impish troll." Crossing her arms over her chest, the female Ace twin continued, "We will be waiting for you to purchase the shampoo needed to wash that paint out of Spirit's fur."

"I'll take Luan out to go buy the shampoo right now," Lori said to her friend, "I just need the name of the shampoo and the address of a store that I can buy it at."

…

After roughly an hour of waiting, most of the Loud siblings and all of the Ace siblings aside from Amy heard the front door of the Loud residence open. About one second later, everyone saw Lori, Amy and a guilty-looking Luan walk into the house. "Well Luan's down a little over two-hundred dollars," Lori said, "But she bought the specific pet shampoo that Amy will need to wash the paint out of her pet skunk's fur."

"Again, I'm _really_ sorry about this," Luan said apologetically.

Letting out a mildly annoyed/exasperated sigh, Amy said, "Well…Alphonse does have a point about how that prank of yours with the paint was meant for him, not Spirit." Turning to face the comedic Loud sister, Amy continued, "The next time that you want to try and get in on the prank war that Alphonse has going on between him and that Benny guy he's friends with, please try to be more careful with the aim of your pranks."

Giving a thumbs-up, Luan said in a somewhat subdued manner, "Got it." After a few formalities were exchanged, the Aces took their leave to go home, with Amy saying that she was going to give Spirit a bath first thing upon returning home. After the last of the Ace siblings left the Loud residence, Lori closed the door behind them. After that, Lori and the other Loud sisters all turned to face Luan.

"Well Luan," Lori began in a mildly accusatory tone as she spoke to Luan, "You literally dodged a bullet there. I mean, can you even imagine what it would be like if that prank of yours ended up hitting, say, Allison's dog instead?"

"Yeah, Lori's got a point, dude," Luna remarked, her tone being similar to that of Lori's, "You have got to be a lot more careful with the pranks you pull outside of our family and our house."

As the other Loud sisters began to give Luan the stink eye, Lincoln walked over and stood between them and Luan. "Girls, girls, calm down," Lincoln said, "I mean, sure. Luan messed up big time. But given the end result, I think it would be safe to say that she's learned her lesson."

The other Loud sisters looked from Lincoln to Luan, then back to Lincoln, then back to Luan, and kept that up a few more times until finally regarding Lincoln and Luan as a whole. Letting out a sigh, Lori said, "You have a point, Lincoln." Regarding Luan specifically, the oldest Loud sibling continued, "Try not to mess up like that again, Luan, alright?"

The comedic Loud sister only gave an ashamed, somewhat timid nod in the affirmative, which was thankfully enough to get the remaining Loud sisters as a whole to relax a bit. The Loud siblings then proceeded to scatter throughout the house and property as a whole so that they could do their own thing; Lynn went out into the backyard to work on her technique in some of the sports she likes to play, Luna went out into the garage so she could have a jam session, and Lori and Leni went up to their room, with Leni remarking that she'd be a lot more upset if it was Aggro's fox that was hit by Luan's prank rather than Amy's skunk.

As for Lincoln, he had the newest issue of the Ace Savvy comic waiting for him up in his bedroom. The sole Loud boy proceeded to make his way up the stairs to his bedroom, itching to crack into the latest exploits of the world's savviest crime-fighter.

* * *

The following morning, Lincoln could be seen walking out of the bathroom; his slightly damp appearance and the towel around his waist were clear signs he had just taken a bath or shower. As he stepped out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him, he proceeded to make his way to his bedroom, only to be met up by Luan a few steps away from the bathroom. "Oh, hey Luan," the sole Loud boy greeted in a friendly, casual tone, "What's up?"

"Hey Lincoln," Luan began, "I was wondering if you wanted to help me with something."

Lincoln looked up at his comedic older sister, regarding her with a curious look. "Depends on what it is you want me to help you with," Lincoln replied. Turning to the side slightly so that his injured left leg, which still bore its various numerous scars and bruises, was taken out of Luan's sight, the white-haired boy continued in a mildly discomforted tone, "If it's something that requires a lot of moving around, then I'm not sure if I can be of much help. Also, I'm pretty sure that mom would throttle you if you tried to make me do something along those lines."

Gently shaking her head, Luan said, "No, no Lincoln. It's nothing like that."

"Then what is it?" Lincoln asked.

Gesturing to Lincoln, Luan explained, "My drama class over at Royal Woods High is one person short for a play that we have coming up this Friday. I was hoping that you would be available to fill in for the spot."

"You…" Lincoln began, "…Want me to fill in for one of your classmates in a play this Friday?" Putting his hands on his hips, the sole Loud boy continued, "Isn't that a little short notice for me, considering that it's _this_ Friday, and you're asking me, a fifth-grader, to fill in for someone who has to be a ninth-grader at the very least?"

With a bit of a chuckle, Luan held a hand up in a gesture to cut off further argument. "Geez, Lincoln, relax," remarked the comedic Loud sister, "All you have to do is man the ticket booth."

Arching an eyebrow in a wry look of curiosity, Lincoln said, "Ticket booth?"

Nodding in the affirmative, Luan said, "Yeah, ticket booth. My drama class is selling tickets to the production that we're throwing on in order to raise money to cover various expenses, both for the drama class itself and a few classes other than drama. Royal Woods High has been rather stingy as of late when it comes to allocating money to various departments other than the sports teams, so a lot of the classes, along with a few clubs, have to pull a lot of their weight."

After considering Luan's explanation for a bit, Lincoln said, "Yeah that does sound like a good reason for raising money." Giving his comedic older sister a curious look, Lincoln asked, "But why ask me to help?"

Rubbing the side of her right arm with her left hand, Luan said, "Well, I was hoping that I could count on you, especially after how you stood up for me against the rest of our sisters when they were grilling me over my prank accidentally hitting Amy's skunk as opposed to Alphonse, who not only was the actual target, but he's also going to be in the production my class in putting on this Friday."

With a mildly surprised look on his face, Lincoln said, "Alphonse is in your drama class?"

Nodding in the affirmative, Luan said, "Yeah, Alphonse is in my drama class, along with Benny and a few of my other friends. In fact, the production that we're throwing on this Friday has a somewhat medieval tone to it, and when Mrs. Bernardo discovered we were down a few prop swords, Alphonse was able to convince his older brother Aggro to lend the drama class those two Japanese wooden swords of his, at least for the duration of when we're doing the play."

"Really? Alphonse was able to convince Aggro-sensei to lend his bokken to your drama class?" Lincoln asked, both his expression and tone making it clear he was surprised. He knew that his Aggro, his Kendo instructor, cared a lot for his special bokken, Morning Sun and a newer one, Nightfall Moon, that the male Ace twin recently got from his grandfather; Nightfall Moon had apparently belonged to Aggro's late father Shigure.

Lincoln suddenly had a look of confusion on his face before he said to Luan, "Hang on, this play is medieval-themed, right?" After the comedic Loud sister nodded in the affirmative, Lincoln asked, "Then why are you using bokken to fill in a few spots for prop swords? They'd be out of place in the setting of the play, given that they are Japanese."

With a shrug, Luan replied, "It's the best that my drama class can do at such short notice, so we don't really have much of a choice other than to make do." Putting her hands on her hips, Luan added with a bit of an 'hmph' in her tone, "Mrs. Bernardo could have simply bought a proper pair of prop swords for the play, but there wasn't room for it in the budget, especially after the most recent cut in order to cover something for the school's football team."

The sole Loud boy nodded in understanding of his comedic older sister's explanation, especially after she pointed out the fact that the drama department had taken a hit to its funding. Looking up at Luan, Lincoln asked, "How many nights will the play be held?"

"This Friday, plus every school night next week," Luan said as she held up enough fingers to represent every day she's talking about, "That's a total of six nights. However, we're only going to be short one person this Friday, which is part of why I was hoping you'd be willing to fill in for the person we had slated to run the ticket booth."

"If our parents are okay with it," Lincoln began to reply, "Then I don't see what can stop me." Before Lincoln could react, Luan quickly knelt down so that she was more level with the white-haired boy, threw her arms around him, and drew him into a hug. "Ah! Luan!" the sole Loud boy exclaimed, more out of surprise than anything else, "I just had a shower! I only have this towel around my waist on, and I'm still a little wet!"

Letting go of Lincoln, Luan said, "Aww, don't try to _dampen_ my spirits, Lincoln." After giving a bit of a chuckle, the comedic Loud sister said, "Get it?"

Giving Luan a dry stare, Lincoln said, "Can I go to my room to get dressed now, please?" Luan allowed Lincoln to take his leave, and after that she went into the bedroom that she shared with Luna. When she got there, Luan went over to the desk that was in the bedroom and picked up a smartphone in a protective case; the case had the same color and pattern scheme as the usual skirt that the comedic Loud sister is often seen sporting.

Going into her contacts, Luan selected the number of her crush-turned-boyfriend Benny. After a few brief moments, the other end of the line picked up. "Hey, Benny?" Luan aid into her phone, "Yeah, it's me. Listen, I got a guy to fill in for Brenda until she gets back next week Monday."

* * *

That Friday evening over at Royal Woods High, Lincoln was sitting at a table outside the auditorium. To the surprise (as well as mild delight) of the white-haired boy, he had been joined by Ronnie Anne, who came along since her older brother Bobby was acting as one of the ushers in the auditorium. In fact, in between the two of them selling tickets to the guests, the Hispanic tomboy decided to regale Lincoln with a few stories, in order to pass the time.

"...Leading to me and Astrid seeing Bobby's old drama teacher welcoming him back to Royal Woods High by hugging him," Ronnie Anne said as she was finishing up one of the stories, "That drama teacher also hugged me and Bobby's mom immediately afterwards, so we figured that she just really missed mom and Bobby."

"Yeah, I remember Mrs. Bernardo saying that she missed seeing your and Bobby's mom at Bingo," Lincoln said, "And from what Bobby told me, he and a few of his friends in his grade have something of a friendship with Mrs. Bernardo."

Nodding in agreement with her (notably close) friend, Ronnie Anne said, "Yeah, and that group of Bobby's friends includes Astrid's brother Aggro, which is part of the reason why he agreed to lend his fancy wooden swords for the nights that the play will be held." As the two fifth graders continued to talk, Mrs. Bernardo came walking over.

"Hey, kids," Mrs. Bernardo greeted in a friendly tone, "The play is about to start, so we're going to have to close down the ticket booth."

"Fair enough," Lincoln remarked as he and Ronnie Anne proceeded to pack things up. As the two kids, assisted by Mrs. Bernardo, were gathering everything, the drama teacher said that Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were free to go into the auditorium, find some seats, and watch the play. The two fifth graders gratefully accepted, partly because they thought that the two of them going to a live performance of a play would be something of a nice thing for them to do together, but mostly because they were more or less stuck at the high school until the play ended; Bobby, who still had to do usher work, was Ronnie Anne's ride home, and Lincoln would be picked up by Lori the same time as Luan, who was acting in the play.

…

After the play concluded, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were waiting outside the auditorium, the former for Luan to show up, and the latter for Bobby. "I could tell that the play was supposed to have an overall medieval theme to it," Ronnie Anne began, "But there were a number of things that were out of place in it. And I'm not just talking about the Japanese wooden swords that Astrid's brother lent to the drama class."

Nodding in agreement, Lincoln said, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm surprised that Maggie girl that Luan's friends with got away with wearing cargo pants which, not only did they not exist in medieval times, but clashed with the rest of Maggie's outfit, which was a costume that more accurately reflected the setting the play was set in."

"And did you see that one guy in the background in that one scene in the play," Ronnie Anne began as she turned to face Lincoln, "Who straight up took his cell phone out in the middle of the play so he could respond to a text message?" Letting out a bit of a chuckle, the Queen of Pain said, "Oh man, I could write an entire report to present in class about all of the things in that play that were out of place in a medieval setting."

"A lot of it was deliberate choices that Mrs. Bernardo allowed," Luan's voice spoke up, getting Lincoln and Ronnie Anne to turn and see Luan come walking over; the comedic Loud sister had changed back into her regular clothing. "Yeah, she wanted to add a few dashes of humor to the play," Luan explained, "So she thought sneaking in a few instances of things that were by far out of place would get a few chuckles." With a gentle shaking of her head, Luan remarked, "Even though the play was overall successful, I'd say Mrs. Bernardo's gambit to get some laughs was at best met with mixed results."

"Oh, Luan," Lincoln said as he got up from where he was sitting on a bench next to Ronnie Anne, "Congratulations on doing well in the play tonight."

With a bit of blushing on her face, Luan replied, "Thanks, Lincoln. To be honest, I was pretty nervous when Benny had that fight scene with Garret, given that I was worried that Benny would get hurt."

"Well Benny _was_ using one of the Japanese wooden swords Astrid's brother lent to your class for the nights you guys are doing the play, while that Garret guy was using one of the prop swords that your class already had," Ronnie Anne pointed out, "And from the looks of it, I'd say that the sword Benny used is of a much higher quality."

Nodding in agreement, Luan said, "Yeah, and I think Alphonse told me that the specific sword Benny used had used to belong to his and Aggro's dad."

"Yeah, Aggro's bro got it right," Bobby remarked, getting everyone attention as he came walking over, a vest draped over his left forearm as it was up a bit and holding a flashlight. Looking to his younger sister, Bobby said, "You ready to go home, Nie-Nie?"

"Yeah, I'm getting a little peckish," Ronnie Anne replied as she proceeded to follow Bobby out to where he parked his car.

As they heard Bobby warn Ronnie Anne not to say she's peckish around their Grandma Rosa, the two Loud siblings that were present turned to face each other. Giving his comedic older sister a mildly amused knowing look, Lincoln remarked, "I bet that you wished that you and Benny were in that kissing scene, huh?"

With a mildly embarrassed sigh, Luan said, "Yeah, kind of. But I was playing the role of a maid, and Benny was a random castle guard, so we more or less never interacted." Perking up a bit, Luan said to Lincoln in a similarly amused tone, "I bet you and Ronnie Anne would have been perfect in that kissing scene, though." The sole Loud boy chuckled a bit, knowing that he had this teasing from Luan coming. The two of them shared a few laughs before Lori showed up to bring them home.

* * *

The following morning, the Louds were having breakfast in their dining room. Thanks to the mild but notable success of Lynn Sr.'s new restaurant 'Lynn's Table', plus a few other boosts that the Louds have seen in the past few months, their breakfast was rather grand, at least when it's compared to breakfasts they had in the past. Indeed, the Louds all looked like they were enjoying themselves, although it should be noted that Lincoln had something of a concerned look on his face, a look that was mixed with knowing that he did something right. The look on his face went unnoticed by the rest of the Loud family, though.

After having finished a forkful of French toast, Luna remarked, "Wow, we haven't had French toast in quite a while, Pop-Star, much less with berries and whipped cream."

"Well I figured that it was high time to splurge a little," the Loud patriarch replied. As he cut off a bit of French toast before poking it with his fork, Lynn Sr. said, "So Luan, how was the play your class performed last night?"

"We got a standing ovation," the comedic Loud sister replied, sounding rather proud of herself, "And given how many people were in the audience last night, I'd say the drama class has already raised a fair bit of money to cover costs!"

Nodding in agreement, Leni said, "That's great! I bet that our school's baseball team will look totes great in their new uniforms!"

"Wait a minute," Luan interrupted, a confused and mildly angry/annoyed look on her face, "Leni, what are you talking about? My drama class raised that money for ourselves, not for the baseball team."

"Oh, no," Leni replied with a gentle shake of her head, "Aggro told me that he found out that the school is going to take the money that the play raised and put it towards getting new uniforms for the baseball team. He also said that all money that the play is going to raise all of next week will cover the rest of the cost for the baseball team's uniforms, and that what remains will go to our school's football team."

Upon hearing what Leni had to say, there was a fair bit of outrage expressed at the dining table; most of it came from Luan, although a fair bit also came from Luna. "You have got to be kidding me!" Luan exclaimed, slamming the surface of the table where she sat at with her hands as she rose to a standing position, "The drama class raised that money, but the school's going to just up and give it to sports instead?!"

"As much as I am a fan of sports, I'm going to have to agree that this is pretty stupid," Lynn stated. Turning to face Leni, the sporty Loud sister asked, "Leni, is what you say your boyfriend told you true?"

Nodding in the affirmative, Leni replied, "Yeah, it's totally true," With a mildly concerned look on her face, Leni continued, "I never heard Aggro sound so steamed before he told me what he found out. You think he'll be okay?"

"I'm not so-" Lori began, but she was cut off when she heard her smartphone go off in her front right pocket. Reaching into said pocket to retrieve her smartphone, Lori checked it to see what had just popped up. Seeing what was on her smartphone's screen, Lori let out a whistle. "Wow," the oldest Loud sibling remarked, "Speak of the devil."

"What is it, Lori?" Rita asked.

Turning her smartphone around to show what was on the screen, Lori said, "Carol just sent me a link to a local news article about what our school is doing with the money that Luan's drama class raised with their performance last night. There's literally a huge protest going on down over at the high school." A few of the sisters who were seated close to Rita leaned in to see what Lori was talking about.

True to Lori's word, the news article that Carol sent Lori a link to talked about how a huge protest down at Royal Woods High, consisting of students and faculty alike, were voicing their outrage over the school taking funds raised by one of the fine arts departments and channeling it right into one of the sports teams instead. Given the sheer size of the protest at RWHS, along with the nature of it, it got the attention of local media.

"Wow," Luna remarked as she read some of the article, "It says here that word of what the high school did was first leaked by an anonymous source that found out what the higher ups of the high school staff were doing." Sitting back down in her seat, the musically inclined Loud sister said, "I bet that Sam and the rest of our friends in our band would totally join in on the protesting down at the school. Music's taken some cuts similar to drama."

"I'm going down to the protests myself," Luan declared, "After I contact a few of my classmates, of course." After fishing out her own cell phone, Luan remarked as she pulled up her contacts list, "I can't help but wonder, though. Who was the anonymous person who found out what the school's trying to do with the funds that the drama class raised last night?" The wonder of the comedic Loud sister was shared by most of the other Loud sisters at the table, which included Lori, Leni and Luna, all of which were also calling various friends of theirs at the high school to see if anyone would be interested in going down to the protests to join the cause. As the high school-aged Loud sisters called their various friends, Lincoln ate a forkful of French toast.

He smirked a bit to himself while he had his mouth full.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Author's note:

Sports teams receiving favor at the expense of fine arts is something of a staple in the high school setting (fun fact: I saw this first hand IRL back when I was still in high school). I figured that after Luan and her classmates worked so hard to raise money for their drama class only to have what money they raised taken and given to sports would be a good enough injustice for Lincoln to avenge, and yes, it WAS Lincoln who found out about/leaked what the high school was doing with the money Luan's drama class raised with their play (I might do a flashback scene next chapter showing how Lincoln learned what was going on).

Anyway, next time will see the protest at RWHS getting into full swing. I'm also anticipating a fairly large roster of characters for the next chapter, given that the protest is stated to already have a lot of people, students and faculty alike.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter fourteen: Funny Business part two- A few siblings go up to join a protest…

After their family's French toast breakfast was interrupted by finding out from Leni that Royal Woods High was taking money raised by the drama class and giving it to benefit sports, the high school-aged Loud sisters, including the aforementioned Leni, all made their way to their school, where a fairly large protest, consisting of students and staff alike, was already in full swing. The high school-aged Loud sisters even contacted a few of their friends to let them know what was going on.

As a side note, twelve-year-old Lincoln Loud, the only boy among the eleven Loud siblings, tagged along to the protest, saying that he wanted to do his part. Lori, Leni, Luna and Luan, all touched that their younger brother wanted to help out, were more than happy to have him tag along. After Lori had parked Vanzilla in the parking lot of Royal Woods High, she and her younger siblings all got out, locked up the Loud family's ancient family van, and then made their way over to the protesting students and staff.

As she was walking, Lori was fiddling around with her much-beloved smartphone. When she was done, Lori slipped the phone into a front pocket on the shorts she was wearing as she said, "Okay, I just got done talking to Bobby, who told me that he and his cousin Carlota are on their way to take part in the protest. Carol and the rest of my friends aside from Allison are already here at the school, so I don't have to worry about them."

"Why aren't you worried about Allison, brah?" Luna asked, a curious look on her face.

"Because Leni already contacted Aggro, who's bringing Allison, Amy and Alphonse with him," the oldest Loud sibling explained. As the group of siblings continue to walk and talk, with Luna making a last-minute call to a friend of hers to see if they'd come over to help with the protest, Lincoln was thinking about something he learned the previous evening…

(FLASHBACK)

Just before he had met up with Ronnie Anne, Lincoln had to go use the men's restroom. After relieving himself and zipping up his pants, the sole Loud boy was about to exit the restroom stall that he was in. But just as he turned around to face the stall's door, Lincoln heard the door leading into the restroom practically burst open, followed by the laughter of two men. Worried, Lincoln quickly climbed up onto the toilet in his stall so that he was carefully standing on the rim of the toilet seat; he prayed that he wouldn't be found.

"That play that Mrs. Bernardo's class just threw was pretty funny," the first male voice said to its companion, "I mean, did you see all of the things that were in the play that were out of place in its medieval setting?"

"You said it, Harris," the second male voice replied to the first, "And judging by how many people were in the audience, Mrs. Bernardo's class must have made a lot of money given that they were selling tickets to the play!"

"Hey, speaking of money," the first male voice, apparently identified as Harris, began, "The baseball team needs new uniforms, but they don't have enough to cover the costs."

With a casual scoffing noise, the second male voice said, "That'll be no problem, Harris. I'll just move the money that the drama class will be raising over the next couple of days from their play into the budget for the baseball team. It'll be no different than moving funding from one of the departments into another."

"Can you really do that, Walker?" Harris's voice said to the second male voice, apparently identified as Walker.

"Hey, what can drama do to bring our sports teams to their playoffs?" Walker's voice replied, prompting both himself and Harris to laugh a bit to themselves. The two men talked a bit more, using the restroom in the process, before leaving. Neither of them were ever aware of the fact that Lincoln was hiding in one of the stalls, having heard everything the two voices said.

(FLASHBACK OVER)

As Lincoln thought about his experiences from the previous evening, he and his sisters had made their way to the large group of protesters. When the five Loud siblings arrived, they were greeted by two of Lori's friends, Trixie Goldman and Carol Pingrey. "Hey Lori," Trixie greeted in a happy albeit concerned tone, "I'm glad to see that you and your sisters were able to come." As she greeted the high school-aged Loud sisters, the former rich girl noticed that Lincoln was there. "Oh, you're Lori's younger brother," Trixie said to Lincoln.

"Yeah girls," Lori began to explain to both of her friends as a whole, "Lincoln told me, Leni, Luna and Luan that he literally wanted to come to the protest to help out the cause."

"_I didn_'_t misuse the word _'_literally_',_ but yeah she_'_s right_," the sole Loud boy thought dryly as his oldest sister exchanged words with her friends.

Gesturing to the Loud siblings that came, Carol said, "I'm guessing that you guys don't have protest signs to use?"

Nodding in the affirmative, Luan admitted, "Yeah. We kind of rushed here pretty much as soon as we heard what's going on. We didn't have time to make any signs for the protest."

"Well don't worry about that," Carol replied with an understanding smile, "Becky brought a bit of surplus protest signs. No one had any idea how many people would be here, so there are quite a few extras floating around."

"I can help you all gather some if you'd like," Trixie said to the Loud siblings, who all agreed and thanked Trixie for helping them find some signs they can use in the protest. As she and her siblings went off with Trixie and Carol, Lori mentioned that some of the various teens that she and her siblings contacted may also need signs to use, to which the former rich girl said that there shouldn't be any problem.

* * *

By around eleven in the morning, the protest was well under way. By that time, Bobby Santiago and his cousin, Carlota Casagrande, had arrived and joined up with Lori's group in the protest (which had all of Lori's siblings that were there, plus Carol and Trixie). The high school-aged Ace siblings, those being Allison, Aggro, Amy and Alphonse, also came by and joined Lori's group at the protest, as did Luna's love interest-turned-girlfriend Sam Sharp. After everyone had arrived, Lincoln saw Luna put her cellphone away.

Looking up at his musically-inclined older sister, the white-haired boy asked, "Hey Luna, who was that you were talking to just now?"

"You remember my friend from California," Luna began, "You know, Crow? Well, I was talking to him just now, and when I told him about the protests, he said that he'd come out and join us."

"Wait a minute, Luna," Lori said, having heard what Luna just told Lincoln. Having her younger sister's full attention, Lori said, "Did you just say that your friend who lives out in California is coming to here in Royal Woods, Michigan, just to join everyone here in the protests?"

Luna simply nodded in the affirmative. Having heard the conversation between Lori, Luna and Lincoln, Sam joined in and said, "Yeah, Crow's a pretty solid dude from what Luna and Chunk told me about him. It's a damn shame that I wasn't available to party with him while he and his roommates were here for Music-paloosa."

With an indifferent shrug, Lori said, "You literally didn't miss too much, Sam. Unless you consider what me and my sisters aside from Leni and Lily did to Crow's friend Jack."

"Yeah, I'm not going to lie," Lincoln remarked to Lori, "I was pretty angry with what that Jack guy called Leni. Granted, not anywhere near to the extent that you and the other girls were, given that I'm not that kind of person, but I was still very much upset due to how Leni was insulted." Gesturing to his left leg, Lincoln said, "Even if I WAS that kind of person, my leg's still in pretty bad shape, so I doubt I would have been able to do much."

As the Loud siblings and Sam talked, they were approached by Lori's friend Allison. The protest sign that the female Ace twin held actually had her much-beloved four-iron golf club taped to the back, as opposed to a regular stick or thin wooden rod. "I am glad to see that you and your kin have come to protest the foul ways that our school has with allocating how much budget and to who, Lori," Allison said as she greeted Lori and the others, "Tell me, where are the others?"

"You mean my other sisters?" Lori replied, drawing an affirmative nod out of Allison, "Luan is somewhere in this crowd with Benny, Leni's somewhere else in the crowd with your brother, and my other sisters didn't come because they felt that it doesn't concern them, given that none of them goes to school here."

With a confused look, Allison remarked to Lori while gesturing to Lincoln, "He came along."

"Well after I heard that the high school was taking the money that Luan and her drama class raised and giving it to the baseball team, I was pretty annoyed," the sole Loud boy remarked, "As such, I told Luan, Lori, Leni and Luna that I wanted to come along."

Nodding in an understanding manner, the female Ace twin remarked, "You are wiser than many would assume you to be, little one." Looking around the large group of protesters, Allison said, "I'm going to go track down Aggro. Since Lori said that he's with the seamstress, I'm worried that she may be distracted by thoughts of Aggro's person being unclothed."

Stammering a bit out of embarrassment, Lori said, "What makes you think that Leni is a pervert like that?"

Giving Lori a dry look, Allison remarked, "Because you yourself have admitted that you have such thoughts about your own champion Bobby, so you've set a precedent." Lori looked like she was about to argue the point, but she stopped short, thought about what Allison had said, and ultimately decided to relent the issue.

Looking a bit sheepish, Lori ended up following Allison to go track down Leni and Aggro, leaving Lincoln with Luna and Sam. After the two eighteen-year-old girls were out of sight and earshot, Sam said to Luna, "You know, Lunes, I'd be lying if I said that I've never had thoughts like that about you."

"You remember what side the Woodstock tattoo is on?" Luna asked her girlfriend with a sly, self-amused looking expression, drawing amused chuckling out of the girl with a streak of blue in her hair. Although not fully understanding what his older sister was talking about with her girlfriend, Lincoln still had vague idea all the same.

He wished that he didn't have the idea that he came up with, though.

* * *

When it was a little bit past noon, Lincoln kind of had to take a break from protesting. He sat on the sidewalk near the parking lot, drinking from a bottle of water. He also gently rubbed the side of his injured left leg a bit, given that having stood for so long but a bit of strain on it. As the sole Loud boy rested, he was found by Bobby and Aggro, the two older boys who have both taken to being something along the lines of older brother figures to Lincoln. Both eighteen-year-old boys were holding protest signs (unlike Allison using her golf club as a handle for her sign, Aggro was not using one of his bokken as a handle for his sign).

"Ah, there you are, bro," Bobby greeted, getting Lincoln to turn his head and look up to see him and Aggro, "Lori told me that you were here. How are you holding up?"

"As well as anyone else here at the protests, Bobby," Lincoln replied. Gently rubbing the side of his injured left leg again, Lincoln added, "I probably could have waited to take a break here if it wasn't for my leg."

Aggro, with a mildly concerned look on his face, said as he folded his arms over his chest, "I'm surprised that you're pushing yourself as far as Leni-chan says you've been doing. Are you sure that you're going to be fine?"

Getting up from where he sat on the sidewalk, Lincoln replied, "It's no big deal, Aggro-sensei. Besides which." Stretching a bit, Lincoln added, "The doctors said that my leg will eventually heal well enough for me to be able to live normally, so I figured getting some exercise would help speed the process up."

"So long as you remember to be careful, Lincoln-kun," the male Ace twin remarked, still clearly a bit worried about his Kendo pupil.

"Oh, Lincoln, I just remembered," Bobby began, "Aggro and I were trying to find you because my Grandma Rosa brought some food me, Carlota, you, your sisters and our various friends." With a nod, the Hispanic young adult said, "She said that she knows that all of us are trying to fight for what's right, and that we shouldn't be doing so on an empty stomach." Jerking a thumb to Aggro, Bobby added, "I believe that Aggro said that his Grandaunt is also bringing by food for all of the protesters."

"Yes she is," the male Ace twin confirmed, "Also, my grandfather is also bringing some snacks for the protesters, as well as a cooler or two of cans of soda."

"Finally, something other than water," Bobby remarked as he, Aggro and Lincoln proceeded to walk back over to where everyone was protesting.

* * *

A little after two in the afternoon, the protest was still going strong. While the people in front of the large crowd of protesters where passersby could see them were chanting their protest slogans, Lincoln, who was hanging near the back of the crowd, was talking to Luan, who was joined by her boyfriend Benny. "How are you holding up, Luan?" the sole Loud boy asked as he looked up at his comedic older sister.

"I'm surprised that you're still going strong, Lincoln," Luan replied, a hint on concern in her tone, "I mean, isn't your leg bothering you?"

With an indifferent shrug of his shoulders, the white-haired boy remarked, "It's always bothered me since ever since it became a problem. How should today be any different?"

Benny, with an impressed-looking expression, remarked, "Wow, Luan's little brother, you must be one pretty tough dude."

"Well given how much me and Luan's sister Lynn used to roughhouse with me in the past," Lincoln began to explain, "As well as all of the Kendo lessons I've received from Aggro-sensei, I guess that I've built up some stamina over time."

Luan smiled a bit to herself; the smile had a hint of sadness to it, but it was overall happy, denoting that the comedic Loud sister felt some degree of pride in her younger brother for what he had said, what he was doing right now. She was glad that Lincoln had made it through all of those incidents from a couple of months ago, and now seemed intend to seemingly repay what he seemed to think he owed Luan by joining her and her classmates in protest over what some of the staff of their school was trying to do with money that _they_ raised with _their_ play.

"…Yeah, Benny," Luan remarked as she turned to face her boyfriend, "You're right about Lincoln being made of some tough stuff. Lincoln's also got a point on how all of what he did with Lynn, as well as Alphonse's older bro-"

"ATTENTION, STUDENTS AND FACULTY OF ROYAL WOODS HIGH SCHOOL!" a voice booming out over a megaphone shouted, startling Lincoln, Luan, Benny and a few of the protesters, getting all of them to look over in the direction the megaphone-enhanced voice was coming from. As such, all of the protesters saw a few men on the school staff of RWHS standing outside of the school.

All of the men were dressed in a manner suggesting that they were in charge of various sports teams, aside from a portly middle-aged man, who was holding the megaphone that had gotten everyone's attention. This man with the megaphone was a fair-skinned man that was somewhat shorter than Lynn Sr., he had a similar hairstyle as Lynn Sr. but had black hair instead and it only appeared on the sides of his head (none peeking out from the top), and he was dressed in a light-gray dress suit with black dress tie and black dress shoes, as if he was a member of a board in a business firm.

"THIS GATHERING IS AN UNLAWFUL TRESSPASSING ON ROYAL WOODS HIGH SCHOOL PROPERTY!" the portly man with the megaphone announced, getting the attention of everyone in the crowd of protesters, "CEASE THIS PROTEST AT ONCE OR ELSE ALL STUDENTS THAT ARE INVOLVED WILL BE SUSPENDED FROM CLASSES INDEFINITELY, AND ALL STAFF MEMBERS THAT ARE INVOLVED WILL BE SUSPENDED FROM WORK INDEFINITELY WITHOUT PAY!"

"Screw you, Principal Walker!" a random female student in the crowd of protesters (it was Luna) shouted at the portly man with the megaphone, "All of us here are prepared to go for the rest of the year if necessary!" The last part drew shouts of agreement from the rest of the crowd, and thanks to that general rambling of the crowd of protesters as a whole, the portly man, who was apparently the principal of Royal Woods High School, Mr. Walker, couldn't really tell who it was that shouted.

Holding up his megaphone to use again, Mr. Walker announced, "ANY AND ALL OF YOU WHO CONTINUE TO PRESIST IN PROTESTING WILL BE ARRESTED BY THE POLICE THAT HAVE BEEN CALLED IN RESPONSE TO THIS PROTEST UNLESS YOU AGREE TO DISCONTINUE YOUR ACTIONS HERE!"

"We'll stop protesting when you stop taking funds that other departments in the school have raised for themselves and giving all of it to sports!" a male adult in the crowd of protesters shouted back.

"INTIMIDATION TACTICS SUCH AS THIS PROTEST WILL HAVE NO INFLUENCE ON SCHOOL SPENDING!" Mr. Walker called out on his megaphone, "ALL THAT THIS WILL ACCOMPLISH FOR YOU IS-"

Mr. Walker was cut off when a few police cruisers from the RWPD pulled into the RWHS parking lot, quickly followed by some police officers getting out. This was also followed by a police carrier van pulling in, with armored officers with accompanied by German Shepherds spilling out once the back door burst open. As a lot of the summoned police began to approach the protesters, a few officers hooked some riot hoses up to nearby fire hydrants.

"_You_'_ve got to be kidding me_," Lincoln thought worriedly as he saw all of the police and their police dogs, "_The principal at the high school resorts to police officers with dogs and riot hoses in order to quell student protests_?!"

The summoned police proceeded to move in to disperse the protesters, who naturally resisted as they were not going to give up in fighting against the clear injustice that was how the high school decided to spend any money it had. "Hey, are the riot hoses ready?" one of the police officers called over to where a few of his fellows were over at the fire hydrants. Seeing two of them over at one hydrant give a thumbs-up, the same officer over by the protesters called back as he and his fellows near the protesters backed off to the sides, "Okay, let them have it!"

Taking aim, the police officers with the riot hoses proceeded to turn the hoses on, sending blasts of water towards the large crowd of protesters. A fair number of the protesters, including Sam and Carlota, were all hit by the initial blast of water. After the initial blast, a few officers made their way over to where the soaked protesters were trying to recover, even putting some of them in handcuffs if they resisted.

Looking over, Lincoln saw that a second pair of police officers got another riot hose ready for use, and that with where they were aiming, his older sister Luan would get hit by the inevitable blast of water. Worried and acting as quickly as his injured left leg would allow him to, the sole Loud boy made his way over to where his comedic older sister was standing, alongside Benny and Alphonse.

Lincoln, despite somewhat hobbling a bit, was able to make his way over to where Luan was standing just in time from getting hit when the second police riot hose was turned on. Luan got sprayed by some water that came out from the side, but for the most part the comedic Loud sister was spared from taking the brunt of a blast from the police riot hose, mostly due to Lincoln being able to tackle Luan to the ground. As for Benny and Alphonse, they both got minor spraying like Luan but were able to avoid the brunt of the riot hose by quickly scrambling out of the way.

Luckily, the two Loud siblings fell over onto their right, breaking their respective falls by catching themselves. Even more luckily, they fell into a patch of grass that was inside of a small curb near the sidewalk, so their landing was relatively soft. As Lincoln and Luan both regained their bearings, Lincoln asked, "Luan, are you okay?"

Sitting up where she had fallen over, Luan replied as she dusted herself off, "I should be asking you that, Lincoln. But yeah, I don't feel anything off." As Luan stood up then proceeded to help her younger brother back to his feet, the two of them heard the vast majority of the crowd of protesters shout angrily. Worried by the noise, the two Loud siblings looked over as saw that all of the protesters were looking ready to riot against the summoned police.

"Uh-oh," the comedic Loud sister said in a worried tone, "This doesn't look like it's going to be a _riot_." Chuckling a bit, Luan said to Lincoln, "Get it?"

"Luan, I don't think that now is really the appropriate time to be cracking any puns," Lincoln replied in a mildly worried tone, a look of stern seriousness on his face. Gesturing to where the protesters and police were at, the white-haired boy continued, "Especially given that-" Before Lincoln could continue, he was interrupted when a few news vans pulled up near the school, after which news reporters and their cameramen proceeded to spill out.

Looking over to where the various news reporters were standing as they spoke in front of their respective cameramen, Luan said, "Wow, I can't believe that the protest here was so big that it got the attention of local news stations."

"Well that's a given, Luan," Lincoln replied as he looked up at her, "The protest was already big enough on its own to get attention from the media." Looking around as he saw the various police, their police dogs and the riot hoses, the sole Loud boy continued, "But since the principal of your school decided to resort to excessive force from the police in order to stop the protest, the story is going to be WAY bigger than it would have been otherwise."

Looking over to the other side of the street where Royal Woods High was located, Lincoln spotted a few pedestrians that were looking over to see what was going on. Lincoln also saw that most of those pedestrians had smartphones out. The white-haired boy also could have sworn that he heard at least one of those pedestrians say something about posting a video up on the internet as soon as she was done recording.

"_Well_," Lincoln thought to himself as he added up everything he had observed in his head, "_I bet that watching the local news tonight will be interesting_."

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Author's note:

I was originally thinking about having Lincoln take a hit from the riot hose in Luan's place, but then I realized that it would kind of retread on ground already thoroughly treaded on back in 'Ten reasons'. Also, seeing an innocent young child get blasted by police riot hoses would most likely anger the protesters enough into rioting in full, and that would be a whole can of worms that I do not want to open. Anyway, next time will be seeing the fallout of Mr. Walker's choice to respond to the protest with such excessive force.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter fifteen: Funny Business part three- A school is in hot water due to their actions…

A few hours after the protest at Royal Woods High School, the Loud siblings that had gone to the protest, as well as all of the other siblings, were in the living room, watching the local news on TV. "…In what has been decried by many all over the Royal Woods area as a blatant treading upon the first amendment rights of the protesters," the news anchor said as a video clip of a scene from the protest at RWHS was shown on the news, "Legal representation for both sides of this conflict will be summoned to represent their clients in a court battle set to happen later in the following week. Additionally, classes at Royal Woods High School are expected to be canceled the day of the court appearance. And now onto the weather. Tom?"

As the weatherman proceeded to give a forecast of the weather for the next couple of days, Lori turned down the volume on the news before she addressed her younger siblings. "Well girls," the oldest Loud sibling began, "Me, Leni's, Luna's and Luan's school is literally not going to be coming out of this one unscathed."

"Those police officers almost blasted me and Lincoln with one of those riot hoses," Luan pointed out, "I'm not sure what part of that has me more upset!"

As a number of the sisters began to murmur in a worried manner, Luna stood up from where she sat on the sofa. "Girls, girls, y'all gotta chillax," Luna said, "No one was ultimately hurt, so there isn't any need to get your undies in a twist. 'Sides, a clip of Lincoln saving Luan from getting blasted by that riot hose is among the many video clips that recorded what happened at the riot that have been released onto the internet, and it's garnered a fair bit of support for the cause of the fine arts classes at the high school."

"Not to mention how it's made Principal Walker and his supporters look like villains," Lori added, "At this point, I'd literally be surprised if he and his supporters still had anyone backing them up."

Getting up from where she sat on the floor with the other younger half of the Loud sisters, Lisa, while holding a calculator, got the attention of the other Loud siblings as a whole. "I've taken the liberty of running the numbers," the second-youngest Loud sister began, "Taking into account every factor that is in play. I have calculated that, when the upcoming court battle between the protesters versus the anti-fine arts faction of the RWHS staff takes place, there is a less than five percent chance that the latter will achieve any sort of victory." Lowering the hand that held her calculator, Lisa looked at her siblings and said, "The numbers are on our side."

"Well that's good news," Luan remarked, sounding satisfied, "I mean, Principal Walker straight up threated to indefinitely suspend me and all of the other students in the protest from school just because we were complaining about how he was spending money on sports that _we_ had raised for _non_-sports related departments." Gently shaking her head, the comedic Loud sister continued with a mild hint of being disturbed in her tone, "There is not anything funny about the stunt that he was trying to pull."

"I know that feeling, brah," Luna said, "I mean, what would have stopped him from pulling the same on the music departments if this whole mess didn't devolve into a vicious battle that'll be settled in the courts?"

The other Loud siblings all agreed with Luna's statement. Without much else to go over, they scattered throughout the house, to go about doing their own thing. The only one who actually stayed in the living room was Lincoln, who was wanting to watch something on TV after he and his sisters saw what they were wanting to see on the news. However, as he sat on the sofa and proceeded to relax, the white-haired boy could not help but look over his shoulder at the staircase that led to the second floor.

When he looked over like that, Lincoln saw Luan walk up the stairs, a mildly troubled look on her normally cheery face. The sole Loud boy didn't really enjoy seeing Luan, or any of the girls for that matter, looking like that. With his brotherly instincts driving him, Lincoln returned the TV to showing the local news before leaving the remote control on the coffee table, getting up from the sofa, and proceeding to make his way up the stairs, intent on having a bit of a talk with his comedic older sister. He had to make a side-trip to the bathroom (he REALLY had to pee all of a sudden; he blames all of the Sunhoney Root Beer he's had today), but after a few minutes, the sole Loud boy was ready to talk to his comedic older sister.

* * *

After using the bathroom for a bit, Lincoln made his way over to the bedroom shared by Luan and Luna. Seeing that the door was closed, Lincoln gently knocked on it. The white-haired boy could hear someone getting up before walking over to the door. In about a second or so, the door was opened somewhat forcefully, revealing a mildly annoyed looking Luna. "I seriously don't have time for your-" the musically inclined Loud sister began in an irate tone, but upon seeing that it was Lincoln at the door, she calmed down instantly. "Oh, sorry about that, bro," Luna replied in a somewhat sheepish manner, "I thought you were the twins coming to me to side with either one of them in another one of their petty fights."

"You wouldn't be the first among us to lose their temper with the constant fighting between Lana and Lola," Lincoln replied in a casual manner, then added while gently shaking his head, "But that isn't why I'm here. In Luan in there with you?"

Luna, with a mildly curious look on her face, remarked, "You're looking for Luan? Hold on a bit, dude." Luna turned her head to face into her and Luan's room before saying, "Yo Luan, the bro's here to see you." A few seconds later, Luan appeared in the bedroom doorway, standing right next to Luna.

"What do you need, Lincoln?" Luan asked in a curious tone, "It's not all that often that you come over to me and Luna's room looking for me." With a mildly amused look on her face, Luan said, "Let me guess, you want to get back at someone, and you need my expertise at pulling pranks to help you out."

Gently shaking his head in the negative, Lincoln replied, "No, Luan, I don't want to get back at anyone." Looking up at his comedic older sister, Lincoln continued, "There's something that I want to ask you about, preferably someplace where the talk can be private."

"You can use me and Luan's bedroom," Luna offered, "I gotta go over to Sam's anyway to pick up my special drumsticks that I let her borrow." Luna then made her way past Lincoln and Luan, saying, "'Scuse me, guvs," as she made her way past the two of them. After Luna had made her way past them, Lincoln and Luan were alone.

Looking down at her younger brother, Luan began, "So Linc, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Are you feeling okay?" Lincoln asked, drawing a mildly confused look out of the comedic Loud sister. Explaining himself, Lincoln continued, "You seemed a bit concerned when I saw you go up the stairs. Is there anything that you want to talk about?" Upon hearing her younger brother's reasoning, Luan's concerned look as she went up the stairs a few moments ago resurfaced.

Sighing in a mildly troubled tone, Luan said, "Sorry if I've given you cause for worry, Lincoln. It's just that…" Sighing once again, Luan explained, "…It's just that the way today ended over at the protest, what with how police officers with dogs and riot hoses were called in and used, made me worried that you could have gotten hurt. I was especially worried that you could have gotten hurt when you saved me from getting blasted by that riot hose." Gently rubbing the side of her left arm with her right hand, Luan added as she looked down to the side, "After all, given the history you have with getting hurt, I was-"

The comedic Loud sister found herself cut off when Lincoln wrapped his arms around her, drawing her into a hug. "…Luan, there is no way that, regardless of what condition I'm in, I would just stand aside while either you or any of our sisters are getting hurt. I'm just not that kind of person." Letting go of Luan, the white-haired boy looked up at her. "Besides, I'm sure that you and the rest of our sisters feel the same way that I do about the rest of us," Lincoln went on, "Would you have done the same thing that I did if you saw one of those riot hoses aimed at, say for example, Luna?"

Luan couldn't argue with her younger brother's logic in this instance. She smiled, a small but sincere one, as she gently nodded in agreement. "I can't argue with that, Lincoln," Luan said, "With anything that you had just said. Just…just promise me that you will try avoiding getting hurt from here on out, alright?"

Giving Luan something of a dry look, the sole Loud boy replied, "I will if you and the rest of our sisters will, Luan." Lincoln's answer not only satisfied the comedic Loud sister, but it also put a bit of a smile on her face, as well as draw out a chuckle or two.

There's no way that Luan could have argued with that.

* * *

The days leading up to the court battle between the protesters and RWHS Principal Walker's side went by in something of a whirlwind. Even without summoning police with dogs and riot hoses, Principal Walker and his fellows had made enough bad moves that a court case was bound to happen. But with said police, their dogs and the riot hoses? Principal Walker and his fellows were essentially trying to douse an out-of-control campfire with gasoline.

Things went much smoother for the protesters in those aforementioned days, however. Not only did they have no shortage of support from around the nation (as well as a little from outside, as one very vocal English-speaker living in Germany expressed online), but there were so many lawyers and legal representatives who wanted to represent the protesters in the inevitable court battle, that some of the protesters thought that a lottery had to be held to pick who would act for the protesters.

Some lawyers even offered to _pay_ to represent the protesters.

"That disgusting troll and his bedfellows are getting what they have coming, if you ask me," Allison remarked the day before the trial as she, along with her siblings Aggro and Amy, hung out over at the Loud family's residence with the teenaged Loud sisters (Luan was absent, though), plus Bobby Santiago and his cousin Carlota Casagrande. Downing an entire can of Moonberry Cola seemingly in one gulp, the female Ace twin let out a very un-ladylike belch, crushed the can against her forehead, and then added, "They lack honor."

Not at all bothered by her friend's 'warrior-like' manners (Allison's way of putting it, not Lori's), Lori replied, "That's literally one way to put it, I suppose." Leaning forward slightly so that she had everyone else's attention, the oldest Loud sister continued, "But that's beside the point. The point here is that things are going to be changing at school, regardless of the outcome in court tomorrow."

Holding a hand up to get everyone's attention, Lynn repeated in a questioning tone, "Regardless of the outcome in court tomorrow?" Gently shaking her head, the athletic Loud sister said, "Lori, you're talking like there's a chance that the asshole principal at your school might actually be able to get himself out of the hole he dug himself into."

"Remember that guy with the old rich uncle who hit Lincoln a while ago?" Lori responded, "Granted, a few things were revealed after the nephew initially got off that shed a lot of negative light on the rich uncle, but the point still stands."

"Speaking of that old rich guy," Amy interjected. Turing to face Allison, Amy said, "Hey Allison, wasn't Fenrir and a bunch of other dogs found near a warehouse where the old rich guy's nephew was found in a traumatized state, as well as covered in various breakfast foodstuffs such as mini sausages?"

Nodding in the affirmative, Allison replied, "Aye, Fenrir was among the animals from that very case you speak of, as was that white yappy thing that Carol keeps as a pet." Turing an eye towards the present Loud sisters, the female Ace twin continued, "I believe that your family's dog was also among the beasts that had to be recovered from that case."

"Yeah, Allison," Luna remarked, "Charles was one of those dogs that was found near the warehouse. I'm still wondering how he not only got out of the house that night, but was able to make his way to that warehouse."

"We…can probably discuss stuff like that later, everyone," Bobby said, sounding mildly unsure of what was going on, mostly because he had absolutely no idea what the girls were going on about. Clapping his hands together, Bobby continued, "Should we prepare for what to say if any of us are called up to give a statement in court, or whatever it's called?"

"Technically, Lynn doesn't have to worry given that she wasn't at the protest," Lori remarked.

"What, and leave while you guys talk here, keeping all the grindage here on the table to yourselves?" the athletic Loud sister remarked as she pointed out all of the soda and various snack foods on the table. Most of the older teens all had a laugh, unsurprised by Lynn's reason for wanting to stay in the meeting.

* * *

The day of the court battle had come. And as everyone was expecting, it was quite the media circus. Even before the scheduled time for the actual court case began, a large crowd had already gathered outside of the local courthouse, with a few in that crowd even carrying signs similar to those used by the protesters during the protest at Royal Woods High School that inevitably led to what was going on today.

In fact, the presence of the aforementioned crowd outside of the courthouse was so grand, that a good number of police officers had to be dispatched to the scene, so as to keep the gathered crowd from making it impossible for anyone to get through into the courthouse. Those trying to maintain at least _some_ semblance of control were especially worried about the safety of RWHS Principal Walker, as well as his fellows who were, for lack of a better term, 'anti-fine arts'.

As for the actual court battle itself, it started as well as one could have expected; the appropriate people were sworn in, all sides gave their testimony, lawyers for both sides objected at least a few times each, and so-on and so forth. When Principal Walker and the rest of the 'anti-fine arts' side were finished giving their side of the story, many of those who were in the audience inside the courtroom could tell that they were in the wrong.

Indeed, by the time the case was wrapping up, it was clear that Principal Walker and his fellows were going to lose; not only did they come across as very unpopular, but Walker's reaction to the protest on RWHS grounds was seen as excessively overpowered, thus painting the principal as a bully (the bully comparison was not helped by the fact that Walker was trying to push down fine arts in order to shine more light on sports; 'sporty jock bullying artsy kid' stereotypes and all of that good jazz).

Furthermore, after all evidence was shown, it was ruled that the protesters did nothing wrong, that all of their protesting was protected by the First Amendment of the US constitution. As such, the 'anti-fine arts' side ended up losing, as many hoped for/were expecting. The school had to pay reparations to all parties that were harmed by the actions of Walker and his fellows; seeing as how every family that had members participate in the protest at RWHS counted as a separate party, this meant that the high school had to shell out big time.

Thank goodness that 'party' in the court case was classified as 'each family that had members participate in the protest'; if it was classified as 'each _individual person_ who participated in the protest', then things would have gotten really bad for the RWSD (Royal Woods School District) really fast. …Not that certain families living in the Royal Woods area (looking at you, Louds) would have minded if that was indeed the case, mind you.

All in all, the day was done, those who have tried to do wrong were foiled, injured parties were sufficiently compensated, and people walked away from the event more or less happy (save for those on the losing side). But this is getting off subject. The day after the court case where their school's principal and his fellows were screwed over big time, the high school-aged Loud sisters were chatting it up as they got out of Vanzilla, having returned from (what all of them would say was) a very successful and productive trip to Royal Woods Mall.

"It's like I've been saying this whole time, Luna," Lori said to her younger sisters as she and they all made their way to their family's front door, "As nice as it would have been to have your friend who lives in California come out here and help with the protest, keep in mind that it the news was dropped on rather short notice for him."

"Brah, you'd be surprised with the kind of stuff that Crow can pull off," Luna remarked as she and the others all reached the front door. With Leni opening the door, Luna continued as she spoke to Lori, "As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for Crow, then there wouldn't have been any way that I would have been able to-"

"Oh, welcome back, girls," Lincoln's voice called out, cutting Luna off midsentence and prompting her and the other high school-aged Loud sisters to turn their attention to see their younger brother standing near the front door, the right strap of his backpack slung over his shoulder. It was clear that the sole Loud boy was gearing up to head out somewhere, most likely to hang out with a few friends.

"Hey, Linky," Leni greeted, "You planning to go out somewhere?"

Gesturing to his backpack, Lincoln said, "I'm actually planning on heading over to Ronnie Anne's place. She sent me a text telling me that Bobby is freaking out for reasons I cannot say, otherwise it would spoil something really nice." The Loud sisters, not just the four oldest but ALL of them, have long since learned to respect their only brother's privacy, so whereas the old versions would have hammered Lincoln until he spilled, the current ones were willing to leave things be. Lori especially, given that she believed that whatever Bobby was apparently planning must be for her, and as such she wants to be surprised.

As he was beginning to walk past his four oldest sisters, the white-haired boy stopped short in his tracks, as if he had suddenly remembered something very important. "…Oh, Luan," Lincoln began, "Would you mind coming along? There's something I wanted to talk to you about, also I think you might be able to help me and Ronnie Anne."

The four oldest Loud sisters were all surprised that Lincoln asked for Luan to come along. Luan and Lori were especially surprised, Luan because Lincoln had asked for her, and Lori because she was confused about why Bobby's surprise for her (Lori) required help from Luan. "Uhh, sure thing, Lincoln," Luan replied, more curious than confused (she was still plenty confused) as she turned around a bit and proceeded to follow Lincoln.

…

"So I take it that your drama class will be able to cover expenses now, given that the courts have more or less made the school cover them?" Lincoln asked as he and Luan walked and talked.

Nodding once in the affirmative, the comedic Loud sister replied, "Yeah that sure is the case, Lincoln." With a bit of a chuckle, Luan continued, "I bet that wherever my school's former principal is working now, he must be pretty steamed that me and the rest of the protesters were able to win in the end."

Turning his head to look at his sister, Lincoln said, "The high school fired that Walker guy?"

"As well as most of the staff that sided with him," Luna stated, a slight hint of amusement in her tone. Giving a bit of a laugh, Luan continued, "Maybe Walker's working at an ice cream shop now, or perhaps a bakery." The comedic Loud sister then looked down to her younger brother with an expectant look.

Giving his older sister a deadpan look in return, Lincoln said, "There is no way I am going to finish that for you, Luan."

"Oh, come on, Lincoln," Luan replied in a mildly pleading manner, "It's the perfect setup! All you have to do is-"

"Well aren't you big sister of the year, Luan," a familiar male voice called out, cutting Luan off midsentence and making both her and Lincoln turn to see Benny come walking up to them. Pointing to Lincoln, Benny said while still looking at Luan, "This is your younger brother who managed ticket sales for our drama class's play on opening night, right Luan?"

"Oh, hey Benny!" Luan replied, "Yeah, this is Lincoln." A bit bashfully, the comedic loud sister said, "So Benny, where are you off to?"

"I'm heading over to Alphonse's place," Benny explained, "He's wanting to show me a new trick that he got Wardance to learn."

"Oh yeah, that pet crow of his," Luan replied, "Hey, you think me and Lincoln can come over to see the new trick as well?"

Benny, with a mildly unsure look on his face, replied, "I'm…not so sure if that's a good idea, Luan. I mean personally, I would have no problem bringing you over, and I'm certain Alphonse wouldn't mind the extra guests. But his older sister is still mad at you because of how your prank meant for Alphonse ended up hitting her pet skunk instead."

The comedic Loud sister, with a sudden look of remembering something appearing across her face, winced in mild embarrassment. "…Oh yeah," Luan said, "Amy is still mad at me because my prank got paint all over her skunk." Shuddering a bit as if she were a little scared, Luan added, "Geez, and here I thought that Allison was the Ace sister who would tear people limb from limb. Amy looked ready to tear my head off."

Benny, with his hands on his hips, remarked, "Well Alphonse has told me that his sister's pet skunk is basically her baby." Gesturing to Luan and Lincoln, Benny said, "So, where were the two of you off to?"

"Oh, Lori's boyfriend Bobby is freaking out because he's trying to perfect some big surprise that he has for Lori," Luan began, "And Lincoln found out because Bobby's little sister Ronnie Anne texted him and told him, so Lincoln's heading over to meet with her. Lincoln asked me to come along, since he said I might be able to help."

"Oh, that was all a lie," Lincoln replied, drawing a mildly surprised look out of Luan. Explaining himself, the sole Loud boy said, "I just wanted to get some alone time with you as I wanted to ask about how you're doing, given that the events of the last week or so all started because your school's previous principal wanted to try and screw over your drama class, and that it was not something that you were comfortable with." With a look of mild concern on his face, the white-haired boy added, "I'm just a little worried about how you're getting along, Luan."

"Aww," the comedic Loud sister replied in an appreciative tone, touched that her younger brother was so concerned about her. Benny, who was still present, agreed with Luan that Lincoln was 'a cool little kid', as Benny had put it. Regardless of how you'd spin it, if you said that Lincoln was a good person, Luan would be among the first people to agree with you.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Author's note:

Originally, I was intending on putting in the whole of the court case, but it made the chapter drag on way too long. As such, I kind of had to reduce it to cliff notes in order to keep things from going on forever. Even so, I was able to do Luan as much justice as I could, especially since the fact that she's probably the Loud sister I have the most difficult time writing for was taken into account.

Here's hoping that the next arc that I work on will be easier for me to get through. Speaking of arcs, the next one will feature a guest from one of my other stories. Things might end up a bit more 'eccentric' than per usual in this story, but there's no need to worry, brah. It'll still be a totally rocking blast.

Next time: California Rockin'


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter sixteen: California Rockin' part one- This is shaping up to be a killer party

Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, was eating breakfast one morning in his family's dining room. As one would be able to guess, a number of Lincoln's sisters were all seated at the table, eating breakfast as well. There was Lori, Lincoln's oldest sister and the oldest Loud sibling overall at eighteen. Then there was Lynn, the athletic thirteen-year-old of the family.

It wasn't just older sisters of Lincoln, as there were some younger sisters as well. Lucy, Lincoln's right-year-old sister, was in fact sitting on the white-haired boy's immediate right, and Lisa, the four-year-old genius of the family, was on Lincoln's immediate left. As the siblings ate, Luan, the fourteen-year-old comedian of the family, came out of the kitchen, carrying a bowl of cereal that she was going to eat.

Scoffing in a mildly annoyed tone, Luan said, "You know, Luna, the rest of us at least have the decency to not do that at the table." This prompted Lincoln and the sisters who were at the table to all turn to see Luna, the fifteen-year-old musician of the family, who was also sitting down at the table.

…With her girlfriend Sam, who Luna brought over. …Also Luna and Sam were making out with each other at the table. A lot.

Breaking away from her girlfriend's hot, passionate Frenching, Luna turned to her roommate and younger sister before saying, "Well I'm sorry that my girlfriend is delicious, sis." This prompted Sam to let out a laugh that was equal parts amused and flattered.

"You know, Luna, Luan literally has a point," Lori began, "At least when I have my Boo-Boo Bear over, we don't make out at the dining table."

"Lunes and I have made out _on_ the dining table over at my place," Sam stated casually.

Luan said as she immediately turned around to go back into the kitchen, "Aaaaannnd I lost my appetite. I'll try getting something else later."

After Luan disappeared back into the kitchen, Lincoln turned to face his musically inclined older sister and her girlfriend. "…Well Luna," the white-haired boy began somewhat dryly, "You and Sam both seem to be in a good mood."

"Oh, about that," Luna began, "The reason why Sam and I are so excited is because our band is going to have our first big show tonight."

"It's going to be hella sweet," Sam interjected.

Lori, with a mildly confused look on her face, said, "Wait a minute, what about that concert where your pink-haired music tutor let you borrow some guitar?"

"That was a battle of the bands-type event," the musically inclined Loud sister explained, "The big show that Sam and I are talking about is an actual show that's actually for us to perform."

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lori said, "Whatever you say, Luna."

"No, this is kind of a serious thing, Lor," Sam began as she referred to Lori with some sort of nickname, "This could be the chance that me and Luna's band have been hoping for! We could get picked up by a big recording label and become famous rock stars!"

Lori, who by this point had pulled out her smartphone and was now browsing the internet with it, replied with an indifferent-sounding, "Uhh-huh."

Seeing the mildly annoyed looks on the faces of Luna and Sam, Lincoln decided that he ought to try and make them feel better. "…Well if your music is as good as it always is, I don't see why a big recording label would NOT want your band, girls," the white-haired boy said to Luna and Sam, getting both girls to turn and face him.

"Well at least _you_ see reason, lil' bro," Luna replied, drawing a nod of agreement out of Sam. After Lincoln was done eating, he picked up his bowl and proceeded to take it out to the sink in the kitchen. As the white-haired boy walked, Luna called out, "Hey Lincoln, Sam and I were going to go for a hike in the nearby woods after breakfast. You want to come along?"

Stopping short, Lincoln thought about what Luna asked him. A nice hike through the woods would be nice, as he's been wanting to try and get some exercise for his injured left leg. Also, he really wanted to get out and get some fresh air; the hike would be a perfect way to do that. The sole loud boy turned back around to face his older sister and her girlfriend.

"That actually sounds like a nice idea, Luna," Lincoln replied, "Provided that Sam won't mind if I tag along."

"Oh, it's no biggy, lil' dude," Sam remarked, "Oh, when you take your bowl out to the kitchen, be careful about putting it on the counter next to the sink on your right hand side. Luna and I sat there last night as we frenched each other."

"OH COME ON!" Luan exclaimed from the kitchen.

* * *

Later that morning, Lincoln was following behind Luna and Sam as the three of them went for a relaxing hike through the woods. Although his injured left leg was a bit of a bother, Lincoln had figured that if he worked it out enough, it would stop causing him pain/discomfort. Either way, the white-haired boy was so distracted by the conversation that was going on between Luna and Sam that he ended up forgetting about said leg.

"Dude, the concert tonight is going to be off the chain," Sam said to Luna, "You think everyone will be able to come see us?"

"I don't see anything that would stop any of them," Luna replied, "Especially Lori, given that she's the one who has to give us a ride, as well as help us transport some of our band's gear for the concert." Turning around, Luna said to Lincoln with a hint of concern in her tone, "Yo Linc, you doing okay so far? Your leg isn't bothering you too much, is it?"

"Only as much as it usually does," Lincoln replied, "This hike isn't too big of a-"

"Hey, aren't you the siblings of that girl who slapped me at the baseball game from a while ago?" a male voice called out, getting Lincoln, Luna and Sam to all turn their heads in the appropriate direction. When they did, they saw that Francisco, the ex-crush of Lincoln and Luna's sister Lynn, was a few feet away. "…Yeah, you two are her siblings," Francisco said as he pointed to Lincoln and Luna, his tone sounding mildly accusatory, "I don't suppose you two would care to explain what the hell is up with that sister of yours, could you?"

"You leave us and Lynn the hell alone, you little bastard," Luna snapped angrily at the thirteen-year-old boy, "Don't make me whack you upside the head with one of my guitars. Not that you don't have it coming for the stunt that you pulled."

Francisco, with a confused and mildly annoyed look on his face, replied, "The hell are you talking about? What did I ever do to you guys to warrant this kind of treatment?"

"Why the hell should Lunes owe you any sort of explanation, you sick, twisted, sadistic son of a bitch?" Sam snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at the thirteen-year-old boy.

Point right back at Sam, Francisco said in an angry tone, "Now that was uncalled-" Francisco was cut off when a gunshot went off and a small blast of dirt flew up near Francisco's feet, startling all four of the people in the area, Francisco especially. Another gunshot went off as it struck the ground near the thirteen-year-old boy's feet. Seeing as how he was apparently being shot at, Francisco did the only logical thing he could think of; run away screaming.

"That's right, you little shit! You better run!" a young adult male voice called out, making Lincoln, Luna and Sam turn their heads to see the shooter walk onto the scene. To the surprise of Lincoln and (especially) Luna, the person who was shooting at the ground near Francisco's feet was Crow Hogan, Luna's friend who lives out in California. In the twenty-one-year-old's right hand was his signature Sig Sauer 9mm.

Shaking a fist threateningly in the direction that Francisco fled in, Crow shouted, "Just you try and bother Luna's posse again, you little fucker! The next bullet will go right up your ass!"

"Crow! Dude!" Luna exclaimed happily as she hugged her friend from California, "Where have you been all this time, dude?"

"Yo Lunes, you know this guy?" Sam asked as she and Lincoln walked up to Luna and Crow.

Gesturing to the twenty-one-year-old, Lincoln explained, "Sam, this is Luna's friend Crow, who lives out in California. He and his roommates came out here to Royal Woods a while ago because they were going to go to that Music-palooza event. Luna was showing them around, sort of being their guide and whatnot." With a mildly concerned look on his face, Lincoln added, "Up until Luna and all of my sisters aside from Leni and Lily lost their temper with that blonde guy that came with Crow."

"Yeah, sorry again about how Jack was being an ass to Leni," Crow said to Luna.

"Well at least the girls and I taught him a lesson I'm sure he won't forget," the musically inclined Loud sister remarked. Going back over to Lincoln and Sam, Luna said after she turned around to face Crow, "So dude, how long have you been in Royal Woods?"

With a bit of a sheepish look on his face, Crow replied, "Since the day before that court case where your school's fine arts department won out against the principal big time."

"Dude, you've been here in Royal Woods for the past three days?" Luna asked, "Well why the hell didn't you come by my family's place the moment you got here? We would have been more than happy to have you over!"

Looking even more sheepish than before, Crow replied, "When I entered the Royal Woods area, I came in via entering the woods. I have been unable to find my way out, so I've been stuck in here ever since."

Lincoln just looked dryly at the twenty-one-year-old California native. "You've been lost in the woods…" Lincoln said dryly, "…For the past three days."

Gesturing to Lincoln, Crow said, "Well I drove here to Royal Woods in Yusei's Volkswagen van, so I had to drive it out of the woods. I was unable to find a place to get out, so I've been stuck just camping out in the van until I could figure something out." Gesturing to Lincoln and the girls, Crow continued, "But hey, now that you guys are here, you can help guide me out of the woods." Gesturing for the group to follow him, Crow said, "Well come on, you guys. The Volkswagen is this way."

Looking up at Luna, Lincoln asked, "Umm, no offence Luna, but are you completely sure that we can trust Crow?"

"Pfft, of course we can trust him, lil' bro," the musically inclined Loud sister replied, "Crow is one solid dude that you can always count on to have your back."

"Plus, he has a Volkswagen van," Sam added as she and Luna began to follow Crow, "I've always wanted to ride in one of those." With both his sister and her girlfriend following after the twenty-one-year-old, Lincoln sighed in a resigned tone as he proceeded to follow behind them.

* * *

A short while later over at the Loud family residence, twins Lola and Lana were playing in the front yard when an old-fashioned styled Volkswagen van pulled up in the driveway right in front of Vanzilla. After the Volkswagen shut off, Crow climbed out of the driver's seat, with Lincoln, Luna and Sam spilling out from the passenger side. "Hey, aren't you two the little sisters of Luna's that are twins?" Crow called out as he spotted Lola and Lana.

Looking over, Lola and Lana saw that not only had their older sister's friend from California come by, but he had brought Lincoln, Luna and Sam with him. The twins got up and ran on over to the returning party in a somewhat excited manner, especially since it's been a while since either of them had seen Crow. "Mr. Hogan!" the twins said in unison as they both hugged the twenty-one-year old around his legs (they are small thus they can't reach very high).

"Yeah, sorry I wasn't able to come over sooner, but I was lost in the woods for the past three days," Crow said to the Loud twins as Lincoln, Luna and Sam had come over.

"Yeah, he ended up missing the big court case," Luna said to her younger sisters. Looking over to Crow, the musically inclined loud sister continued, "But if you're going to be in Royal Woods for a while, then your timing couldn't be any better. The band that Sam and I belong to have a really big show tonight. You interested in coming to watch?"

Turning around to face Luna, Crow said with a mildly concerned look on his face, "You guys don't sing any of that bubblegum pop bullshit, do you?"

Snickering a bit, Luna held up a hand to cut off any arguing. "Pfft, no way, dude," Luna replied, "I learned my lesson the last time."

"Good," the twenty-one-year-old remarked in a commending manner as he pointed to the musically inclined Loud sister in a likewise manner, "Those songs are what they use down in Hell to torture people." With Luna leading the way, everyone who was outside proceeded to make their way into the Loud family residence, partly because Luna had to figure out where Crow would sleep while he was over.

* * *

In the dining room of the Loud residence, Luna and Sam were talking to Crow while Lincoln stood with his older sister (the twin had gone off somewhere in the house, or maybe the backyard, to play). "Alright, dude," Luna began as she had her focus on Crow, "While you're staying here in casa Loud, I'm pretty sure my 'rents would appreciate it if you didn't bring your gun into the house."

"Fair enough," Crow replied in a casual, understanding tone as he took his Sig Sauer 9mm out from the holster on his side and placed it on the dining table.

Holding up a hand to cut Crow off, Luna said, "Umm, you don't have to hand your gun over, brah. I think you'll be fine if you leave it in the Volkswagen."

Somewhat gingerly taking his gun back, Crow said, "Oh, umm, yeah. That works too, I guess."

"Hey Lunes," Sam began when she turned to face her girlfriend, "We ought to head over to Brent's for some practice. The show _is_ tonight, after all."

As Luna nodded in agreement, Lincoln said, "I bet that you girls and the rest of your band will do great tonight. I mean, at least you two are involved, and I have never had any reason to doubt your skills when it comes to playing music."

Luna, with a touched look on her face and an appreciative smile, said, "Aww, thanks, lil' dude. It's great knowing I got someone willing to back me up."

"And your older sister deserves it, dude," Crow said to Lincoln, "I mean, your Luna is _way_ cooler than the Luna that my roommates and I have to look after."

Lincoln, as well as Sam, had a confused look, although Luna seemed to know what the twenty-one-year-old was talking about. "You and your roommates are looking after someone who has the same name as my sister?" Lincoln asked.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Crow said, "Yup. She's a thirteen-year-old girl named Luna Wundertwin. My roommates and I are also looking after her older twin brother Leo." Crow then proceeded to go into a story about the twins that he and his roommates are looking after, which did not fail to get some laughs out of Luna, Lincoln and Sam.

* * *

That evening at a local concert hall, Luna and the rest of her band was setting up while the curtain was covering the stage. Watching the band set up was Lincoln and Crow. The twenty-one-year-old wore a shiny police officer-style badge on his shirt, telling anyone who asked that he was private security that was hired by the band as protection. As the band was setting up, Crow decided to tell Lincoln stories of his exploits with his roommates to pass the time.

"…Thus the bros and I flew home across the Pacific Ocean from China, inside the Silver Manta Ray," Crow remarked as he finished up a story, "Although Kalin's dog Dukey kind of freaked when we got home. A few days after that, I got the call from your sis about the court thing, so I sto-err-_borrowed_ Yusei's Volkswagen and drove out here, only to get lost in the woods upon my arrival in Royal Woods until you, Luna and Sam found me."

"...Uhh huh," Lincoln remarked half-heartedly, taking everything he heard with a grain of salt.

Looking over to where Luna and the others were setting up, Crow remarked, "Luna and her posse have this one in the bag. This is their band's first step to achieving immortality." With an amused look on his face, the twenty-one-year old continued, "And here my roommates thought that I wouldn't be around when history was made."

"Yeah, I don't really see any reason why things would go sour for Luna and the others," the sole Loud boy remarked, nodding once in agreement. As Lincoln and Crow talked, Luna came walking over to them.

"Yo, dudes," Luna began, "The band and I just got everything set up, and we're about to do a practice run for tonight's concert." Giving a wry look of self-amusement, Luna continued, "You guys interested in a preview?"

"I've never been one to turn down awesome tunes," Crow replied as he, with Lincoln following behind him, proceeded to make his way out into the theater so as to find seats.

* * *

As what Lincoln and Crow were expecting, the music played by Luna's band was nothing short of fantastic. Everyone who came to watch the actual concert must have felt the same way, given that there was a standing ovation for pretty much every song. "I don't give a shit if I lose my hearing because of how fucking loud the music is!" Crow exclaimed as he was head banging to the last song of the concert, making the devil horns with his left hand as he was rocking out.

"Not the exact language that I would use, Mr. Hogan, but I agree nonetheless," Lincoln replied as he was likewise rocking out to his older sister's performance. To be honest, Lincoln was actually amazed with how great Luna's work was; the girl, for as long as she could remember, always had a passion for music. She had always wanted to take her music to the point where it would make her into a famous rock star.

And now, with Luna and her band finishing their first concert to a sold-out theater and an abundance of applause, the sole Loud boy figured that his older sister's dream might come true.

…

"Hot damn, that was epic, you guys!" Crow said as he joined Luna, her band and Luna's siblings (of course they came to watch the concert) for dinner at their dad's restaurant, Lynn's Table, in order to celebrate the band's success. Raising a glass of soda up into the air, the twenty-one-year-old said, "Alright, everyone! Let's hear it for Awesome Rock!"

"I literally cannot believe that Luna and her band chose such a weird name for their group," Lori muttered to herself as she and everyone else raised a glass in toast to Luna's band. After the glasses were all lowered, Lori said out loud, "Your friend from California's right, Luna. You and your band literally did one hell of a job tonight."

Nodding once to her older sister, Luna remarked, "Well all of us put in our fair share, Lori, so of course we totally-"

"Nailed it, I'm guessing you're going to say," an adult male voice called out, cutting Luna off and getting her and everyone else at her table to turn and see two people standing there, an adult man and woman. The man was fair-skinned and had black hair; he wore a white dress shirt under a black long-sleeved top that was open in the front (thus showing the white shirt), black pants held up with a belt, and brown shoes.

The woman of the pair was likewise fair-skinned; she had long brown hair and wore gold hoop earrings, a red sleeveless dress that reached about halfway down her thighs, black high heels, and a pink dress scarf around her neck. Upon seeing these two people, Luna stood up somewhat forcefully from the table while giving the man and the woman a serious, clearly unhappy look.

"Well if it isn't Doug and Michelle," the musically inclined Loud sister sneered in a clearly disgruntled tone, "What are you two doing here?"

Holding up a hand to cut off any further argument, Michelle replied, "Look, Luna. I know that the last time that Doug and I did business with you went sour, but that was because we couldn't foresee that your style of music that you're so dedicated to is the next big thing."

Walking up to Luna's table, Doug remarked as he pulled out a business card and tried to hand it over, "It's clear that you and your band are going to go places, but you guys will be needing the right agents to help you along in that area. So then, what do you-"

"Let me stop you right there, Simon and Rachel," Crow remarked, interrupting Doug midsentence as he walked over to him and Michelle. Pulling out his _own_ business card, Crow handed it over while saying, "My client, the band known as Awesome Rock, already has _ME_ as their agent. Here's my card." Doug, due to a bit of confusion by what Crow was doing, gingerly took the card from him to check it out.

"…Our names are Doug and Michelle," the male agent said as he read the card Crow gave him to see what it said;

CROW HOGAN: AGENT SUPREME

Md., PhD, MMOJRPG, LOL, WTF, FTW, YOLO, BBQ

PHONE#: 1-800-EAT MY ASS

Doug looked up from the card and gave Crow a look that was even more confused than the last one. With a smug look of self-amusement on his face, Crow said, "I believe that you and your friend Helen will find me to be a bit more qualified than your basic average agent, Trent."

"…It's Doug and Michelle," Doug said, the sheer bafflement of what the twenty-one-year-old was doing keeping the male agent's tone somewhat subdued. Handing the card back to Crow, Doug turned his attention back to Luna and her band. "I…see that you and your band already have an agent," Doug remarked, "But if you and the rest of Awesome Rock are even in the market for some new representation, don't hesitate to contact us."

Giving Doug and Michelle a dry look, Luna said, "Uhh, yeah, sure." After the two agents had left the restaurant, Luna sat back down, letting out a relieved sigh. "Whew, I did NOT want to have to deal with those bastards ever again," the musically inclined Loud sister remarked.

"Yeah, I don't have a lot of trust in them either," Lincoln remarked, "I mean, they tried to change who you are, simply because they thought it was the best way to make you famous." Taking a sip from his soda, the white-haired boy continued, "What they had in mind back then wouldn't make you famous. It would have made you into a puppet."

"Your younger brother's got a point, Lunes," Crow remarked as he walked back over to the table and rejoined the party, "I mean, why would you ever let people put into your head what to do in order to be awesome, when you're already awesome? Those two are just greedy motherfuckers who care for nothing save fattening their bank accounts and wallets." Chugging down the rest of the beer he had with his meal, Crow continued, "Plus, I'm pretty sure at least one of them had to give at least one sexual favor to someone in order to get to where he, she or they are at today."

Laughing a bit at the last bit that Crow said, Luna remarked, "You're right. Ain't no way that I'm going to change who I am."

"That's the-" Crow began, but he was cut off when his phone went off on the table; he had taken it out and laid it there. Picking it up, Crow saw the phone's screen was displaying a number that was on his contact list. "Oh, it's Yusei," Crow remarked casually before he accepted the call. Holding the phone to the side of his head, Crow said, "Hey, dude, how's it-"

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MY VOLKSWAGEN, CROW?!" a male voice on the other end of the call exclaimed so loudly that the twenty-one-year-old had to hold the phone away from his ear. Also, everyone at the table heard the shouting from Crow's phone quite clearly.

Lincoln, with a dry monotone look, simply said before he took another sip of his soda, "I at least hope you left a note, Mr. Hogan."

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Author's note:

…I'll give you two guesses as to who the antagonist(s) of this arc is going to be, but you're probably only going to need one.

Putting that aside, Crow has a bigger connection to the Louds than most people would guess. They made the aforementioned 'Music-palooza' a great time for Crow and his roommates. Chapter two of 'After Hours' covers the entirety of those events in detail, just in case you're interested in learning more; likewise, Luna's arc here in 'One reason' takes place _between_ the events of chapters eight and nine of 'After Hours'. Anyway, next time is going to continue the current arc, with Lincoln seeing that he, once again, has to undertake a certain action because a certain something befell a certain someone that he cares about. The next chapter will also contain some content that is important to the setting of the main Loud house fic 'verse that I've established.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter seventeen: California Rockin' part two- The one wherein the jerks make their move

Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, was in his family's garage the morning after his sister Luna, along with the rest of Luna's band, had a rather successful performance, a performance that many were assuming would see their band make it to the top of the charts. The reason why the sole Loud boy was in the garage was because he was watching Luna, Luna's girlfriend Sam, and the rest of their band practice one of their songs.

Lincoln was not alone in watching Luna and her band perform, either. Standing next to Lincoln was Crow Hogan, a twenty-one-year-old guy who lives out in California. Crow, a close friend of Luna's, had originally come out to help the Louds with a court case involving Luan's drama class at RWHS, but upon his arrival in Royal Woods, Crow got lost in a wooded area, staying lost for three days straight until he was found by Lincoln, Luna and Sam. When the band was done with the song they were playing, Crow walked up to them.

"Hot damn, you guys nailed it!" Crow remarked as he offered a high-five to the first person who would take it. It ended up being Sam.

"Well the guys, Lunes and I did agree that the song we just finished would be the leading song of our band's first album," Sam said, "As such, we got to make sure it's absolutely flawless."

Lincoln, as he walked over to stand next to Crow, looked like he was about to say something, but before he could get a word out, he gripped the side of his left leg while hissing in pain. Seeing as how everyone was paying attention to Lincoln, they all saw the sole Loud boy's clear display of being in pain.

Luna, driven by sisterly instinct, immediately sat her guitar down and ran over to Lincoln. "Yo Lincoln, you okay?" the musically inclined Loud sister asked, worry clear in her tone.

Lincoln let out another hiss of pain, so as to try and keep himself from crying out. "…Yeah, I'm going to be fine, Luna," the white-haired boy assured his older sister, "This isn't the first time that I've had a spasm like this." As he watched his friend fret over Lincoln, Crow wore a look of confusion on his face.

"Hey Luna, is your little brother going to be okay?" Crow asked.

"It's just his left leg, is all," Luna replied as she turned to face the twenty-one-year-old from California, "Lincoln's left leg was brutally injured in an attack on his elementary school a few months ago."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that on the news," Crow remarked. Putting his hands on his waist, Crow continued, "Say Luna, I don't suppose you can rustle up a report detailing the exact nature of your little brother's injury, can you?"

…

A few minutes later, Luna, Sam, Lincoln and Crow were all standing around in the Loud family's dining room; Luna's other bandmates had since left to go home. Crow, while holding a few sheets of paper that were stapled together in the upper left corner, was talking on his phone. "Yo, Harold, dude," Crow said as he spoke into his phone, "Is now a bad time? …You and your wife are having breakfast with your adult niece, her family and her husband's mother? Oh, it's actually good that you're currently with your adult niece. I need to talk to her about something."

As Crow spoke on the phone, Lincoln looked up to Luna and Sam. "…Hey Luna, is Crow seriously talking to your music tutor who was by a while a go?" the white-haired boy asked.

"Oh yeah," Luna replied, "Crow and Harold-sensei go way back. I've heard that Crow has been on some pretty epic adventures with Harold-sensei's crew, but I never heard any stories about said trips. Maybe when Crow's done we can ask him."

Back over to Crow, who was reading something off of the stapled-together sheets of paper he was holding, he said into the phone, "So what do you think? Can you help out here? …Wow, seriously? It'd be that simple for you? …Oh, yeah, I guess I can see where the metal pin that's in his leg would require work at the hospital, but other than that, everything sounds great! I'm sure that the Louds would greatly appreciate it if your uncle and his crew can bring you by here so you can work your magic. Thanks for your time." After that, Crow ended the call he was on, then turned to face Lincoln, Luna and Sam.

"Okay, here's the deal," the twenty-one-year-old began, "That was Harold Fisher's adult niece that I was on the phone with just now. She's some super-medical expert that has worked all manner of miracle cases over where she lives. I gave her the rundown on Lincoln's leg injury, and when I was done doing that, she told me that she can completely heal Lincoln's left leg."

"Whoa dude, are you for real?!" Luna practically exclaimed.

Nodding in the affirmative, Crow said, "Harold's niece told me that she would have to take Lincoln to the hospital here in Royal Woods in order to do surgery to remove the metal pin that's in his left leg, but after that mending Lincoln's left leg would be pretty easy for her. Hell, she even said that if Lincoln's leg didn't have that metal pin in it, she could have very easily mended it in the field, no hospital trip required."

"That sounds too good to be true," Sam remarked, a bit surprised by what Crow said.

Putting her hand on Sam's left shoulder, Luna said, "Babe, the people over where Harold-sensei lives are pretty epic, and can pull off some likewise epic stunts. But more on that later." Turning to face Crow, the musically inclined Loud sister continued, "If Harold-sensei's niece really can do that for Lincoln, then…" Pausing to wipe a stray tear from her right eye, Luna said, "…That would just be the greatest."

"Well don't go thinking that Lincoln's leg will be as good as new in very short order," Crow advised, "It'll take them a while to get ready to come out here, then a while longer after that to travel from there to here."

The musically inclined Loud sister nodded in understanding. "That's fair, I suppose," Luna replied, "And hey, it's something to look forward to." As Luna conversed with Sam and Crow, Lincoln nodded in agreement. Someone was getting ready to come all the way to Royal Woods just to heal his left leg up to be good as new? That _was_ something to look forward to.

* * *

Later that morning, Lincoln was sitting in his family's living room, watching TV with Lucy and Lisa as they sat on the couch. Surprisingly, the TV was set to the local news channel. "…In local news," the news anchor said, "A concert last night was performed by a local teen band, known as Awesome Rock, attracted a sold-out stadium, beating out various records that had been set by past performers at the stadium, such as Mick Swagger and SMOOCH. We have interviews with audience members who were at last night's concert."

The news then shifted to a Caucasian teen girl who wore glasses and was notably, but not excessively, overweight. "I actually know the band as students at my school," the girl said during the interview, "In fact, I recognize the two girls in the band."

The news then shifted to an interview with a cocoa-skinned teen boy with long black dreadlocks. "Yo, those guys were off the chain last night," the teen said, "And their songs were bomb! I hope I can find someplace where I can get their music online."

The news shifted to a third interview, this one with a mid-forties man who looked like he was dressed to work at an office building. "I spotted a fellow with the band who performed last night," the man said, "He had orange-ish hair that stuck up like broom bristles, and there were a few yellow markings, sort of like tattoos, all over his face. Anywho, I can't help but shake the feeling that he looks like that one supposed domestic terrorist who lives out in California."

The news then cut back to the news anchor in the studio. "Well I guess it goes without saying that Awesome Rock already has a career ahead of them. And now onto the weather. Tom?"

"Wow, it sounds like Luna and her band have a lot working for them already," Lincoln remarked as he turned the volume on the TV down with the remote. Turning to face his younger sisters that were with him, the sole Loud boy asked, "What do you girls think?"

"Luna and her friends do have a way of speaking to the souls of others through their music," Lucy said, her tone showing that she agreed with her older brother, "Being able to appeal to the souls of others is a good show that they will be able to go far."

Lisa nodded in agreement. "I have to concur," the brainy Loud sister said, "Even though I risk sounding biased since Luna is our sister, I can't help but admit that her music is high quality."

The white-haired boy smiled; it was a small smile, but sincere. Hearing his younger sisters speak positively about their musically inclined older sister's music showed a degree of support that he likes to see the sisters show to each other. Lincoln was about to speak up, but he was interrupted when Lucy said, "Hey Lincoln, the news is talking about those agents who tried to pester Luna at dad's restaurant last night."

Curious, Lincoln turned his attention back to the TV. True to what the gothic Loud sister said, the news was showing something about the agents Doug and Michelle; as such, he picked the remote back up and turned the volume up on the TV. "…Leading us to be on the hunt for up and coming talent in the Royal Woods area," Doug said as he and Michelle were being interviewed on the news, "Here's hoping that we'll find the next big hit!"

"That new teen band, Awesome Rock, is looking to be pretty successful," the interviewer remarked to the agents, "Maybe you guys can pick them up for your label?"

"The band calling themselves Awesome Rock already has an agent, who essentially told Michelle and me to eat his rear end," Doug replied, "But if Awesome Rock decides to drop that man as their agent, we would be more than glad to pick them right up."

When the news shifted back to the news anchor, Lincoln turned the volume on the TV back down. "Pfft," the white-haired boy scoffed in an annoyed tone, "Won't those jerks leave Luna and her band alone? It's bad enough what they tried to get Luna to do the last time they were here in Royal Woods. They shouldn't be allowed to get their hands on Luna and her band this time around."

"I can try to curse them, if you'd like," Lucy offered, "The last time I used a successful curse, it was on Lynn because she took a honey bun I was saving for myself. The curse made her lose every softball game that she and her team took part in until I told Lynn what I did and got her to apologize for taking my honey bun." Lucy was facing forward, towards the TV, so she was mildly confused when she didn't hear Lincoln speak up right away. Turning to face her older brother, Lucy saw that the look on Lincoln's face was a mix of disgust, horror and anger.

Lucy, with a confused (and mildly worried) look on her face, said, "…What?"

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lincoln simply shook his head. "…Never mind, Lucy. It's something in the past," Lincoln remarked, "The main point to focus on now is to figure out if Luna and her band are in any danger of falling victim to those scheming agents who had tried to turn Luna into something that she isn't." The two younger Loud sisters nodded in agreement with Lincoln, fully intending to keep their musically inclined older sister out of the clutches of those agents.

* * *

Lincoln was hanging out with his friends Clyde and Rusty over at the former's place sometime at around noonish or so. "Hey guys, check it," the older Spokes boy began as he showed Lincoln and Clyde a small strip that looked like it was a line of four pictures that were taken at one of those photo booths. Both Lincoln and Clyde leaned in to take a closer look, and as such they saw that Rusty and Polly were in each picture. "Proof of not only my first official date," Rusty said, a hint of smug pride in his tone, "But proof that I have an actual girlfriend!"

At that moment, Rusty's younger brother Rocky walked past the threshold between the living room and the dining room. Seeing his younger brother, Rusty called out, "Hey, Rocky! Come over here!" Curious (and mildly annoyed that he was being sidetracked), the younger Spokes boy went over to where the three fifth graders were standing around. Showing Rocky the picture strip from the photo booth he went to with Polly, Rusty said, "What do you think? Your older brother just had his first official date." With a look of self-amused smugness on his face, Rusty added, "If you want, I can give you some pointers on getting a girl to like you."

"I've been dating Lucy since before her older sister Lynn started going out with Conan the Barbarian," Rocky replied in an emotionless monotone, a look of dry unamusement on his face.

"I'm pretty sure his name is Ulfric, Rocky," Lincoln pointed out to the younger Spokes boy.

Scoffing in a tone that was a mix of annoyance and mild frustration, Rusty said, "Rocky, can't you let me have anything for just once?"

Giving his older brother the look that he had been maintaining thus far, Rocky replied, "Tell you what, Rusty. If you can go back in time and stop yourself from nicknaming Lucy as 'Lucy-fer', then I'll give you a thumbs-up for convincing some poor girl that you're actually worth dating."

Sighing in a mildly annoyed and frustrated tone, Rusty said, "Rocky, seriously. What is it with you and your constant need to bust my balls, lil' bro?" Turning to face Lincoln and Clyde, the older Spokes boy said, "Can you two believe the kind of stuff that I have to go through on the daily basis with Rocky here? Huh, little brothers. Am I right?"

"I'm an only child," remarked the bespectacled African American boy.

"I'm the only male sibling out of eleven children," the white-haired boy pointed out, "Also, the girl that your little brother is dating is one of my younger sisters."

Turning back around to face Rocky, who still had a dry monotone look on his face, Rusty said, "You're just enjoying this right now, aren't you?"

Shrugging indifferently, Rocky said, "Well since I'm still waiting for a new Playtendo Swap Lite since you ruined my last one, seeing you squirm like this is pretty amusing."

"Dude, your little brother had a Playtendo Swap Lite and you ruined it?" Clyde said in a shocked tone as he and Lincoln both looked at their red-headed friend with looks of shocked horror.

"Ehh," Rusty said, his tone clearly carrying embarrassment, "I guess it was sort of my fault since I decided to have a water gun fight in the house with Liam. …And I put Moonberry Cola in my water gun instead of actual water." Giving Lincoln, Clyde and Rocky a mildly hopeful look, the older Spokes boy added, "If it helps, Liam said that he'd cover half the cost for-"

Rusty found himself cut off when there was a knocking at the Spokes residence front door. Giving his older brother a dry look that would hear no argument, Rocky said, "You can stay here and try to further explain yourself to your friends. I'm going to go see who is at the door."

When Rocky left, Lincoln and Clyde both turned to face Rusty. "Seriously, dude," Clyde said to the older Spokes boy in a disappointed tone, "Ruining your younger brother's Playtendo Swap Lite, and by having an indoor water gun fight, no less." Gently shaking his head, Clyde continued, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that-"

"Hey, Lincoln!" Rocky called from the front door, "Some guy with yellow markings all over his face is here asking for you! He says that he's friends with-Hey!" Rocky was cut off midsentence when, from the sounds of things, he was pushed aside as the person who was at the door simply let themselves in. About a second later, Crow came walking into the living room.

"There you are, little dude," Crow began, a mild hint of seriousness in his tone, as he spotted and pointed at Lincoln, "Look, your sister Luna sent me to track you down and pick you up so that you can be brought back home."

Looking up at the twenty-one-year-old from California, Clyde said, "Who are you again and how do you know Lincoln?"

"Clyde, this is Crow Hogan," Lincoln began to explain as he made the introductions, "He's a friend of my sister Luna's who came out here from California. But that's beside the point." Looking up at Crow, the sole Loud boy asked, "What exactly happened, Mr. Hogan?"

"Some seriously bad shit just went down, little dude," Crow replied, "Seriously bad shit that has affected Luna and her band, among other up and coming talented music artists." Gesturing for Lincoln to follow him, the twenty-one-year-old said, "Well come on now, Lincoln, we've got to get back to your place! Vámonos!" Mildly weirded out by Crow's antics, Lincoln nonetheless said his good-byes to Clyde, Rusty and Rocky, the latter having just entered the living room with a mildly annoyed look on his face.

After Lincoln had left with Crow, the three remaining boys all looked at each other. "…Well now, Rusty," Rocky remarked dryly as he looked up at his older brother, "I think that I've just found someone who can give you a run for your money in the stupidity department."

* * *

At a speed that made Lincoln think that Crow was breaking the speed limit in residential areas, the two boys found themselves back at the Loud family residence. After he had pulled up in the driveway in the Volkswagen van, Crow got out and ran over to the house, leaving the white-haired boy to play catch up, a task made somewhat difficult due to his injured left leg. When he finally got into the house, Lincoln saw most of his sisters were crowded around Crow who, as he sat on the sofa, was going over something on the laptop that he had sitting on the coffee table.

After he had made his way over, Lincoln caught a glimpse of what the twenty-one-year-old from California had on the laptop's screen; a news article about two people. Getting closer, the sole Loud boy saw that it was talking about the agents/producers Doug and Michelle, as a band that's working under their label had just released their latest album. Right away, Lincoln was already wary about what those two could be up to.

"What did those two jokers do this time?" Lincoln asked as he got close enough to the girls and Crow, getting all of them to turn to look at him. It was then that Lincoln saw that there was a look of angry annoyance on Luna's face.

Pointing at Crow's laptop, Luna swore in her practiced British accent, "Those bloody dolts stole the leading song me band played at our concert and is passing it off as the work of one of a band under their label!"

"And it's not just Awesome Rock that those two pompous shit-sacks stole work from," Crow remarked as he stood up, "No less than half a dozen local talents, one of which being Awesome Rock, had respective songs of theirs stolen by those two greedy turd-muffins!" Raising a fist into the air, the twenty-one-year-old declared, "In the name of the holy trinity of Knuckles, Tyrion and Aquaman, we will not let those thieving fuckers get away with this!"

The Loud sisters that were in the living room all pumped their fists into the air as all of them let out cheers that sounded a bit on the battlelusting side, showing that they, too, would seek to get vengeance on Doug and Michelle. The girls all went about to do their respective things while Crow went out to the Volkswagen van, saying that he wanted to check some of the gear that he had left in there.

…As for Lincoln, he himself wanted to get revenge on Doug and Michelle, given the stunt that they had pulled on not just Luna, but the rest of Luna's band AND all of the other local talents that had reportedly had bits of their work stolen by the scheming agents and given to a band that worked under a record label belonging to said scheming agents.

But the sole Loud boy was worried. Judging by how the battlecry his sisters gave just moments ago sounded, as well as Crow's own battlecry, the white-haired boy had every reason to believe that they would all go well beyond what was needed in order to get proper revenge against Doug and Michelle.

Sure, what they had done to Luna's band and the other local talents living in the Royal Woods area was downright unforgivable, but Lincoln believed that finding irrefutable evidence that the scheming agents did indeed steal the creative works of various local talents only to pass off said works as the products of bands under their record label, and then releasing said evidence, would be sufficient to deal with Doug and Michelle. Maybe get some matter of financial compensation for the wronged parties as well, but that would be the limit.

Remembering back to when he and his sisters had gone to to Music-palooza, as well as what most of his sisters had done to Crow's friend Mr. Atlas in retaliation for those harsh words towards Leni, Lincoln was worried that some of his sisters might go so far in their quest to get vengeance on Doug and Michelle that they would end up in more trouble than they would be able to get themselves out of.

That idea of more trouble than one can reasonably get themselves out of is one of the reasons why Lincoln favors getting _proportionate_ retribution, via implementing guile and subterfuge so that most people out there never even learn that he was involved in the first place, on those who had done wrong by some of his sisters over the last couple of weeks. The method is a tried and true one that has yet to let the white-haired boy down.

Lincoln didn't see any reason why his preferred method would start letting him down now.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Author's note:

I actually kind of procrastinated on this chapter a bit; some of the scenes in this chapter, which look like filler, ought to be a sign of that. I blame occasional bouts of writer's block, my job, lack of reliable access to a computer that I can do my writing on during my previous dry spell (thankfully said dry spell is over now) and various bits of having to dip into my emergency savings (thanks dude; you know who you are). Thankfully, I was able to eventually get this chapter finished. Now with this one taken care of, I can get started on the next chapter, which will bring Luna's arc in 'One reason' to a close.

As a side note, to those still wanting to know more about Crow's connection to the Louds; they appear during the second chapter of my story 'Yu-gi-oh! 5Ds After Hours', during which Crow and the other three main guys go to Royal Woods for a Woodstock-esque music concert. Furthermore, Luna's arc in 'One reason' is set between the eighth and ninth chapters of 'Yu-gi-oh! 5Ds After Hours'. You can find 'Yu-gi-oh! 5Ds After Hours' in the selection of published stories that I have out right now. As another side note, the phone call that Crow has with Harold Fisher (who appeared in Luna's arc back in 'Ten reasons') can also be seen from the other end in the thirty-seventh chapter of 'Harold Fisher: Legend of Konoha' (if you're interested in seeing the other end), which will be out shortly after this chapter.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter eighteen: California Rockin' part three- ...Well _someone_ had to do it

Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, could not believe what he, most of his sisters and Crow Hogan, Luna's friend from California, had seen on the laptop screen after the aforementioned Crow pulled something up on the internet.

Doug and Michelle, a pair of agents who had once convinced Luna to be something that she isn't, not only stole a song from Luna's band and passed it off as the work of a band under their (Doug and Michelle) own record label, but they had also done the same thing to a number of other local talents living in the Royal Woods area. To say that a number of folks were upset would be a bit of an understatement.

Even though Lincoln's sisters had joined up with the members of Luna's band, along with the other local talents that had their work stolen, to lead an effort against the record label that Doug and Michelle own, due to all of the resources that the scheming agents had at their disposal, it was very much an uphill battle for the local talents to get back at the record label that had stolen their respective creative works.

…Luckily for the local talents, Lincoln is the younger brother of one of them.

The sole Loud boy, with no one else the wiser, went right to work. Going to his computer, Lincoln began a search on the appropriate bits of info that he would be needing. Although the effort took him a while, the white-haired boy eventually found the first relevant bits of info that he would be needing. Working off of those bits, Lincoln was slowly but surely able to get the rest of what he would be needing.

After writing down the various bits of info that he would be needing, Lincoln then proceeded to brainstorm about what items he would be needing in order to carry out his plan to teach a lesson to those scheming agents a lesson. His laptop would come in handy, Lincoln realized, given that he can use it to write up some blurbs and then upload said blurbs onto the internet.

He was also going to need his smartphone. Although it was not as fancy as the exorbitantly flashy smartphone that is practically glued to Lori's hands twenty-four-seven, Lincoln's smartphone was still of a notable quality; more to the point, Lincoln could use it to record short videos, which he could then promptly upload onto the internet for the world at large to see. The sole Loud boy knew that he would have to bring his smartphone along on this adventure.

As Lincoln continued to think about what he could be needing in his efforts against the scheming agents that had stolen creative work from Luna and her band, he suddenly stopped short as he had a realization. His sisters were already looking to get revenge on Doug and Michelle. If they learn about what he was planning, Lincoln had no doubt that his sisters would try to force their way into helping with Lincoln's plan. It is for that reason why Lincoln never let any of his sisters in on any of his past exploits in getting back at someone who had done wrong by one of them; too many cooks spoil the soup and all that good jazz.

Although not bringing any of his sisters in on any of his exploits over the last few weeks had proven to be an ultimately good thing overall, Lincoln knew that it came with its drawbacks, such as not being able to call upon Lori for help. As she is currently the only Loud sibling that is capable of driving, having Lori's assistance on some of his past efforts would have been a rather notable boon to the white-haired boy's efforts.

…But if Lori had been brought in on even one of his past adventures, then Lincoln had no doubt one of his other sisters would have found out about what Lincoln was up to, leading to more or less ALL of the sisters getting themselves involved. Not only would such a move defeat the purpose of getting revenge for the sister in question (as Lincoln doesn't want the sister of his he was avenging to help him get back at the person/s who had wronged her), but the efforts of getting back at the wrongdoer would then become too difficult to manage, as there would be too big a party.

Thus Lincoln had to forgo getting any of his sisters involved in his schemes over the past couple of weeks. Which, again, is a rather bad shame, given that having someone who can drive along would have been a big help on some of the aforementioned revenge schemes. Just as having someone who can drive come along on this current revenge scheme would be-

Lincoln, who at that point had taken a break from his computer to lay on his bed so that he could think, bolted upright into a sitting position as he had been struck with sudden inspiration. Luna's friend from California, Crow, was currently available given that he came out to Royal Woods from California. And the twenty-one-year-old also had his own vehicle (which Lincoln suspected that Crow had borrowed from Mr. Fudo without his knowing or permission) that he had brought with him, meaning that the sole Loud boy didn't have to worry about Vanzilla, the Loud family's ancient family van, being available. Helping things out was the fact that Crow was just as keen as everyone else when it came to avenging the local talents who had their creative works stolen.

Even so, Lincoln knew that getting Mr. Hogan involved was a risky move. Crow's behavior ever since Lincoln, Luna and Sam found him in the nearby woods after he was lost in there for three days straight left a lot to be desired as far as the white-haired boy felt. But given that Crow not only was the only person who could drive that Lincoln could call upon for help, but the twenty-one-year-old was also Lincoln's best bet at keeping his plan to avenge the wrongdoing that had been dealt to Luna on the low and low.

…Hopefully Mr. Hogan was capable of being discrete. Otherwise, the sole Loud boy's efforts would end up blowing up in his face.

* * *

"Oh, hells yeah," Crow said when Lincoln was eventually able to work up the courage to ask him for help. When his sisters had all left, the white-haired boy approached Crow, who was checking something that he had left in the Volkswagen van (was that an RPG-7 that Lincoln saw?!). Closing the Volkswagen's side door, Crow turned back to face Lincoln and remarked, "That shouldn't be any trouble, little dude. And don't worry because, despite what Kalin may tell you, I am, in fact, capable of keeping things to myself."

The sole Loud boy let out a sigh of relief, thankful that he was able to secure the help and confidence of someone who was capable of driving. Looking up at Crow, Lincoln said, "Thanks for your help, Mr. Hogan. I just need to draw up a plan of action."

"Well your older sister did always say that you're quote unquote 'the man with the plan'," the twenty-one-year-old remarked. Gesturing to the sole Loud boy, Crow continued, "I'm sure that you should be able to come up with the perfect revenge scheme to pull on those two steaming piles of septic waste for the stunt that they pulled on Luna and the rest of her band."

Lincoln nodded in agreement with Crow; granted, the white-haired boy would not have used that _exact_ same selection of words, but what Crow had said did resonate with Lincoln to a certain degree. "Okay, Mr. Hogan," Lincoln began, both his expression and his tone carrying hints of seriousness, "I recently found out that the two agents that stole songs from all of the local talents, including Luna's band, are still here in Royal Woods. That being said, we have to move fast if we're to get back at them for the wrong that they did, because they will be pretty much out of my reach if they leave Royal Woods. So the first thing we have to do is figure out where the two of them are staying. I compiled a list of all of the hotels here in-"

"Oh, I know where the two of them are currently staying," Crow said, interrupting Lincoln in the process, "I figured it out earlier this morning."

Lincoln, with a surprised look of mild shock, looked up at the twenty-one-year-old. "Wait, are you serious?!" Lincoln nearly exclaimed, "How did you figure it out so quickly, Mr. Hogan?"

"They're currently staying at the Royal Woods Motel," Crow explained, "It's the same place where my roommates and I stayed when we came out here from California so that we could go to Music-palooza. As for how I figured it out, I went to the Royal Woods Motel because when I previously stayed there, I left something of mine over there. When I went to the motel to pick up my belonging, I saw those two go into a hotel room that they had rented."

Lincoln was, to some degree, shocked by the extreme luck of Luna's friend from California. The sole Loud boy had to compile a list of every hotel and motel in the Royal Woods area; he even added a few Bed and Breakfasts to the list. Lincoln was about to go down his list and eliminate as many of the options as possible through the use of deductive reasoning, but thanks to Crow's sheer dumb luck, that wasn't going to be necessary. The white-haired boy was unsure whether he should be thankful due to how much time he had just been saved in the long run, or annoyed at the fact that a fair portion of the effort that he had put into his bid to avenge the wrongdoing that had been dealt to his musically inclined older sister had just been rendered moot.

Given that he was working for the benefit of someone else as opposed to working to bolster his own pride, Lincoln was going to side with the former.

Sighing, Lincoln said, "Alright then, Mr. Hogan. Thanks for finding out where the agents are currently staying. This will make getting back at them for what they did loads easier."

"No prob, lil' dude," the twenty-one-year-old replied in a casual tone, "All I will be needing from you now is when we're going to be taking action."

"Before we can do anything else," Lincoln began to explain, "We first ought to learn more about the general layout of the rooms offered at the Royal Woods Motel. With what I intend to do, it would be a rather big detriment if we went in blind."

Crow, with an amused look on his face, remarked, "Ho, ho, ho, is this possible breaking and entering that we're talking about here?"

"There's nothing that will be _too_ criminalistic in nature," the white-haired boy remarked, "And given that Doug and Michelle have stolen songs from Luna's band and a number of other local talents, our steaking out the place and subsequent sneaking in while those two are out won't be amounting to all that much by comparison."

"What are we going to be doing, my good man?" Crow asked, practically rubbing his hands together in anticipation of the times to come.

With a sly look on his face, Lincoln replied, "Well, Mr. Hogan…" With a hint of ominousness appearing in both his expression and his tone, Lincoln said, "…Let's just say that we're going to be making Luan on April first _very_ proud."

* * *

First off, Lincoln had Crow draw up a map of the general layout of a room at the Royal Woods Motel; since Crow, who had stayed there previously due to the aforementioned trip he and his roommates made to come out to Royal Woods, confirmed that all of the rooms that guests stay in have the exact same layout, Lincoln was able to skip a potentially risky step in his plan.

Then the sole Loud boy, after studying Crow's hand-drawn map of a motel room's layout, brainstormed what the best booby-trap pranks; remembering April fool's days from the past, where Luan ALWAYS went berserk, Lincoln had more than a few options, especially due to the April fool's where Luan, with a moderately unwilling Lynn Sr. helping her, rented that hotel to chase the rest of the family throughout, setting off pranks on them at her leisure.

"Man, little dude," Crow remarked with a mildly shocked look on his face, his tone sounding mildly alarmed, when Lincoln told him some stories of how Luan acted on past April fool's days, "That funny sister of yours and Luna's is really fucked up." Gesturing to the list of possible pranks that the white-haired boy had written up, the twenty-one-year-old said, "Thank goodness that you're keeping it tame."

Looking up at Crow, Lincoln replied with a dry look on his face, "And all of that occurred while Luan was still in middle school." With a shrug, Lincoln added, "Who knows what she will come up with now that she's in the ninth grade?"

Crow, folding his arms over his chest, gently shook his head in a manner to convey some degree of disappointment. "I need to have a talk with that comedian of a sister of yours at some point before I leave to return to New Domino," the twenty-one-year-old remarked.

With the motel room layout drawn up by Crow and the list of pranks that he himself had written up, Lincoln's next step was to go about gathering what he would need for the pranks on his list. Luckily for Lincoln, Crow was more than happy to contribute some of his own funds to purchase some of the necessary materials for some of the pranks. When the white-haired boy asked him if he was sure that he was okay with this, Crow responded by saying that Yusei won't even notice that eight-hundred and fifty some odd dollars is missing from his (Yusei's) checking account.

With the purchased prank supplies in the back of the Volkswagen van, Lincoln and Crow proceeded to the next step of the plan, which was to stake out at the Royal Woods Motel. Luckily for Lincoln, Crow had the foresight to lure the agents out of their motel room by tricking them into thinking that one of the local talents that they had stolen a song from (it wasn't Luna's band, before you ask) wanted to join their record label via sending the agents a fake text.

After Doug and Michelle took off in the black Mercedes car they had parked in the motel parking lot, Lincoln and Crow went to work. Taking care to wear gloves so as to not leave any fingerprints on anything, the two of them went into the appropriate motel room to set up a number of prank traps. While Lincoln was setting up a prank in the motel room's bathroom that would make water balloons filled with brownie batter explode on the hapless victim, Crow came across a particularly interesting find in the closet of the motel room he and Lincoln were in.

Crow, while kneeling down on the floor in the closet, was kneeling in front of a portable safe that was roughly the size of the average microwave. The safe had been popped open, and judging by the set of professional-looking lock picking tools that the twenty-one-year-old had out at the time (they laid rolled out on the closet floor on Crow's right), it was clear that Crow's talent as a lock picker was at least as good as that of Leni's, if not more so. Looking into the safe, one would be able to see a number of wads of paper money. Taking off the bag that he had over his back, Crow proceeded to unload the contents of the portable safe into his bag. "_I think that the local talents that had songs of theirs stolen are entitled to a little _'_financial compensation_'," Crow thought as he finished emptying the safe.

Zipping his bag up, Crow stoop up, put his bag on over his back, nudged the safe door close with his right foot, then walked out of the closet. When he left the motel room's closet, Crow spotted Lincoln walking out of the bathroom. Looking over to the twenty-one-year-old, Lincoln shot him a thumbs-up. "I just finished setting up the water balloons filled with uncooked brownie mix," the white-haired boy said.

"That ought to be the last of your pranks, then," Crow said, "Now then, I'm going to set up a prank of my own. Why don't you go down to the Volkswagen and wait for me?"

Lincoln, with a mild look of concern flashing across his face, said, "Are you sure there's enough time, Mr. Hogan?"

"Pfft," Crow replied in a casual tone as he dismissed Lincoln's worries, "I snuck a bit of time saving onto the one side of one of the tires on the car those two took off in. We're good."

"Snuck a bit of time saving?" Lincoln repeated, a hint of confusion in his tone.

…

Doug and Michelle were at a name brand auto shop, watching as the guys in the garage were replacing the rear right tire (from the driver's POV), which was completely shredded as if a marble-sized explosive had detonated on the inner side of the tire, with a new tire. "This is one of the most bizarre tire replacements that I've ever had a hand in carrying out," the first mechanic said to the second.

"Ehh, I've heard of similar cases like this happening out in San Fran," the second mechanic replied in a casual tone, "According to local news reports in that area, busted tires like this are one of the signatures of a supposed local domestic terrorist."

"Umm, excuse me for interrupting," Doug began, getting the mechanics to turn to face him and Michelle. Gesturing to himself and his fellow agent, Doug asked, "When's the soonest that we can expect to get out of here?"

With an indifferent shrug, the second mechanic said, "Pfft, I don't know." The second and first mechanics proceeded to resume the conversation that they were having with each other, zoning out the fact that their customers were about ten feet away.

* * *

Around dinnertime that evening, the Loud sisters were all in the living room, having a good laugh amongst themselves. As the ten sisters were all laughing, Lincoln walked in from the front door, with Crow following in behind him. "Hey, girls," the white-haired boy began when he and Crow walked into the living room, "What's so funny?"

"Lincoln, Crow, dudes," Luna began as she tried to calm herself down from her practically hysterical laughter. Holding up her phone, Luna proceeded to explain, "Not only were Doug and Michelle charged with intellectual property theft for all of the songs they stole from my band and other local talents here in Royal Woods, but when police went to the Royal Woods Motel to arrest them, they looked like they had just gotten out of a prank tornado Luan made!"

"I'm not going to lie," Luan said as she wiped a tear from her eye, "I wish that I was the one who had pulled off that masterpiece."

Pointing to Luan, Crow said, "Yeah, dude. Lincoln told me about some of the stuff that you did on past April fool's days. I'm going to want to talk to you about it later."

Looking something up on her own phone, Lori said, "There's also a local news article that says that local talents that had their songs stolen found envelopes of money in their mailboxes, like some sort of Robin Hood-type person decided to steal from the rich and give to the poor."

Lisa looked like she was about to say something, but before she could even get one word out, Rita and Lynn Sr. came walking into the house after they had been gone all day. Rita, who was carrying a number of envelopes, had a look of surprise on her face. "Hey, Luna," the matriarch of the Loud family said as she looked through the mail. Fishing out a single envelope, Rita held it up and said, "This was mixed in with the rest of the mail. There's no return address on it. All that I can see is that it's a simple plain white envelope with 'Luna and Awesome Rock' written on the front."

Getting up from where she sat on the sofa, Luna walked over to her mother and received the envelope addressed to her and her band. Opening the envelope up, Luna's eye instantly went wide when she saw that there was money inside. "Holy shit, dudes!" the musically inclined Loud sister exclaimed as she went over to her siblings, "That Robin Hood dude from that article that Lori mentioned just sent me and my band a really big paycheck!"

The other sisters gathered around Luna as she saw here take the money out and count it. Even before Luna finished, Lisa, who had an eye for detail, could tell how much money Luna had been sent. "That's an even one-thousand dollars!" the brainy Loud sister exclaimed. True to what Lisa had declared, Luna was holding ten Benjamins.

"Counting myself, my band has five members," Luna said as she put the money back into the envelope, "So I can keep two-hundred for myself while giving another two-hundred each to Sam and each of the boys."

Crow nodded in agreement with what Luna had said. "That makes sense, Luna," the twenty-one-year-old remarked, "You've got to spread the wealth around, after all." Clapping his hands together, Crow said to the Louds, "Anyway, is anything planned for dinner? If not, then I can spring for a few pizzas."

"Oh, that is very generous of you, Luna's friend," Rita remarked, "But are you sure you're okay with doing that, especially considering how many pizzas you'd have to buy for a combined fourteen people?"

Scoffing in an indifferent tone, Crow gave a likewise indifferent shrug as he said, "I recently came into something of a windfall, so I can swing it."

* * *

The following afternoon, Lincoln, Luna and Sam (who had been invited over by Luna) walked out of the house and over to the Volkswagen van, where Crow was loading up a few things as he was packing up to go back home. "It was great to have you over, dude," Luna said to her friend from California, "It's a shame that you live on the far end of the country. It'd be great to have you around more often."

Nodding in agreement, Sam remarked, "Yeah, dude. Hell, I bet that I speak for the whole of Awesome Rock when I say that we would love to have you as our actual manager slash agent when we hit the big time!"

Chuckling a bit to himself in a good-natured tone, Crow replied, "Well it's great to know that I have friends here in Royal Woods that I can count on." With a bit of slyness in his tone, Crow added, "And as for hanging out with you guys more, I think I might be able to actually manage that really soon."

"Oh?" Luna replied, a hint of self-amusement in her tone, "What do you have planned, Crow?"

"Ehh," the twenty-one-year-old replied, "It's not so much me so much as it is my pal Yusei and his girlfriend Akiza. The tldr here is that the two of them are getting married soon, and I'm pretty sure that I can convince Yusei to let me invite both your band to perform at the ceremony and all of Luna's family."

"Your roommate is getting married, Mr. Hogan?" Lincoln asked as he looked up at Crow.

Nodding in the affirmative, Crow replied, "I'd say more, but I don't think your mom would appreciate me putting certain ideas like premarital sex and marrying out of wedlock into your head, little dude."

"Uhh…" Lincoln replied in a mildly confused tone, but he was cut off before he could continue.

Looking to Luna and Sam, Crow said, "Make sure you girls and your bandmates don't spend all of that money you guys got in one place, alright?" Luna and Sam nodded in agreement as Crow hopped into the driver's seat of the Volkswagen, turned the vintage van on, pulled out of the Loud family's driveway, and took off. When the twenty-one-year-old was out of sight, Luna and Sam turned to face each other and Lincoln.

"Wow Lunes," Sam remarked, "You sure know some really interesting people. That Crow dude from California was off the chain!"

With a bit of a chuckle, Luna replied, "Well, I know someone else who is just as awesome, if not more so." Gently putting her left arm around Sam's waist, the musically inclined Loud sister looked into her blonde girlfriend's eyes. "I assume that you know who I'm talking about?" Luna asked, planting a peck on Sam's right cheek, eliciting a giggle from Sam.

As the two teenage girls shared that loving embrace, Lincoln, figuring that they would like some privacy, casually walked towards his family's house to go inside. Seeing that his musically inclined older sister was in a much better mood now that justice had been served to the people who stole a song from her band, the white-haired-boy felt much at ease. He was happy with the fruits of his labors, so Lincoln felt that he had nothing else to do here.

Except allow Luna and Sam their alone time to enjoy said fruits.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Author's note:

To be honest, what I originally had in mind for Crow to do was _much_ worse, so I came up with and settled for what he ended up doing instead. Also, keep in mind that I said that Lincoln's revenges against the antagonists that he deals with in this story would be as proportionate as I could manage; I didn't say anything about how far _other people_ who get involved because they also want to avenge a specific sister would be willing to go.

Anyway, aside from all of that, I think that it would be safe to say that Luna's arc has come to an end. Also, if you're curious about the wedding that Crow mentioned to Lincoln and the teens, it actually takes place in the tenth chapter of 'Yu-gi-oh! 5Ds After Hours'. But that's beside the point. The point is that the next arc will begin next time, and it will be something of a magical double-feature, with the magic coming straight from a certain town somewhere in the kingdom of Fiore.

Next time: Tiara-cap scouts


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter nineteen: Tiara-cap scouts part one- The armored customer

It was a fine enough morning one day in Royal Woods, Michigan. Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, was sitting at his family's dining table, eating breakfast while his six-year-old sisters, the twins Lola and Lana, were excitedly going on about how their scouting troop, the Bluebell Scouts, were going to be starting their annual fundraising activity.

The Loud twins would go on about how awesome the fundraiser was going to be to whoever would care to lend them an ear, which ended up being every one of their siblings that was currently sitting at the dining table with them; only baby Lily (who was still napping) and second oldest sister Leni (who went to go see her boyfriend Aggro) were absent.

"Yeah, we're going to be going door to door selling boxes of cookies," Lana remarked, "The Bluebell Scouts kind of had to go back to selling cookies due to how many people had complained about the Kale Puffs that Scout Leader Vivian tried to peddle as part of the Healthy Initiative she tried to start up. We were only able to sell boxes of the Kale Puffs to people who did not notice what they were buying until after the fact."

"As a result," Lola continued, "The Bluebell Scouts had so much extra stock of the Kale Puffs that we had no choice but to toss out a lot of them. Scout Leader Vivian also commented that the 'all sales are final' policy she was enforcing also helped to contribute to the overall annoyance people had to us selling the Kale Puffs."

Finishing off her glass of orange juice, Lana said, "So now the Bluebell Scouts are back to selling cookies." Looking around at her and Lola's siblings, the tomboyish twin asked, "I don't suppose that any of you would be interested in buying a box of Bluebell Scout cookies from me and Lola, are you?"

Lincoln, after taking a sip from his own glass of orange juice, sat his glass down before saying, "It's about time the cookies your scouting troop has been known to sell are available again. I can't remember the last time I had any." Giving the twins a knowing look, the white-haired boy said, "You girls can put me down for a box. I'm also going to have to tell Clyde and the other guys that the cookies are back. Knowing them, all of them are also going to want to buy at least one box of cookies each."

"Well alright!" Lola said cheerfully. Turning to face her twin, the pageant-winning Loud sister said, "We already got a number of potential customers who want to-"

"We're first going to have to see that you two actually _are_ selling cookies this time," Lynn said, interrupting Lola in the process, "Sorry, but Lincoln and his friends weren't the only ones who got tricked into buying Kale Puffs that we couldn't return for a refund." The other Loud sisters who were at the table all nodded in agreement with what their sporty member had said.

Holding up her hands in a gesture to show she understood, Lola replied, "Relax, relax. You'll see for yourself when Lana and I bring by our wagons carrying the boxes of cookies later."

"Oh, I almost forgot," Lana said as she looked at her older siblings. Gesturing to herself and Lola, Lana explained, "Due to a shortage of older members in the Bluebell Scouts to keep an eye on the younger ones, Scout Leader Vivian is shorthanded. She asked us scouts to look into finding some older volunteers to help escort the scouts around while we're selling the cookies." The other Loud sisters at the table looked around at each other with unsure looks on their faces; only Lisa, who was the only one at the table that was younger than the twins, did not have an unsure look on her face.

As Lori, Luna, Luan and Lynn looked like they were about to begin arguing amongst themselves about which of them would go with the twins to keep an eye on them, everyone heard the sound of a fork or spoon being tapped against the side of a glass. Looking over, all of the present Loud sisters saw that it was Lincoln, the only boy among their number, who was tapping the side of his glass with a spoon (he had a bowl of cereal for breakfast).

After clearing his throat a bit, Lincoln said, "I actually have some spare time on my hands, so I would be glad to go with the twins to keep an eye on them while they are going door to door selling their cookies."

Giving her older brother a sly, knowing look, Lana said, "You just want to be first in line to buy cookies from me and Lola, don't you, Lincoln?"

Snapping her fingers, Lynn said under her breath, "Damn it. I wish I had thought of that."

Chuckling a bit in a good-natured tone, the sole Loud boy said to the twins, "I will admit, that is something of a bonus. But that wasn't what I was thinking about when I volunteered." Looking at both Lola and Lana, Lincoln continued, "It's been a while since I did anything specifically with the two of you. The last couple of weeks have kept me busy. I figured that me being the one to go with you girls to keep an eye on you will let me catch up with what you girls have been up to as of late."

Both Lola and Lana were touched that their older brother wanted to go along with them on their cookie selling expedition to keep an eye on them because he was wanting to spend some time with them, but didn't have much opportunity to do so until now. Naturally, the twins both agreed that they would bring Lincoln along as the older person to escort them while they are going door to door selling Bluebell Scout cookies.

As an added bonus to Lola and Lana, Lincoln knew a good number of people who all would be bound to want to buy some cookies, and he could take the girls directly to said customers. It was a win-win regardless of how Lola and Lana looked at it.

* * *

Later that day, Lincoln followed along slightly behind the twins, each of which was pulling along one wagon each. The wagons were both carrying at least two boxes that held the boxes of Bluebell Scout cookies. There was also two zipped-up dark bluish leather pouches, one tucked into each wagon, that held money. The pouch in Lola's wagon held profit, while the one that Lana had in her wagon held change in case the girls had to break a bill that a customer used to pay for boxes of cookies.

"Wow, Lincoln," Lola remarked as she and her siblings made their way through the neighborhood that they were in, "It was a good thing you took us right to all of your friends. Lana and I sold cookies to no less than half a dozen customers in under half an hour!"

"It was a good thing we also thought to stop by both Ronnie Anne's place and Anna's place," Lana added, "Ronnie Anne's family bought a lot of boxes from us, and Anna's older brother Aggro apparently really likes the shortbread Bluebell Scout cookies since he bought two boxes."

Lola, with a look of mild wonder on her face, said, "I didn't figure that we'd sell any of the shortbread cookies. They're the plainest cookies in the Bluebell Scout selection."

Lincoln, with a casual and mildly amused smile, remarked, "You'd be surprised to learn about Aggro-sensei's preferences when it comes to what he likes to-"

"Hey, Lola!" a familiar young male voice called out, cutting Lincoln off midsentence and making both him and the twins turn their attention to the area the voice called out from. As such, they saw Skippy and Winston, a pair of six-year-old boys, come running up to them. It should be noted that Lana has a crush on Skippy, while Lola has a crush on Winston, who was the boy that had called out.

Gesturing to the wagons that the girls were pulling, Winston asked, "Might I ask what you and your siblings here are up to, Lola?"

"Oh, hey Winston," Lola greeted, blushing a bit since her crush wat talking to her, "Yeah, Lana and I are going door to door selling Bluebell Scout cookies. Our older brother Lincoln came along because there's a shortage of older members of the Bluebell Scouts available to keep an eye on the younger ones."

"You girls are finally back to selling the cookies?" Skippy asked, "Well thank goodness for that! I remember when your Scout Leader tried to push that whole quote unquote 'healthy initiative' by selling those Kale Puffs. You know, I actually bought a box of those Kale Puffs and tried to give one of the puffs to Penny, my German Shepard. She started licking her butt."

Lana could not help but let out a chuckle while Lola sneered to show disgust with the story that her sister's crush had just told. Seeing the look of disgust on Lola's face, Winston turned to face Skippy and said, "Perhaps we ought to change the subject away from your dog's preferences, my good man."

With a shrug, Skippy replied, "Whatever you say, Winston." Gesturing to the twins and Lincoln, Skippy continued, "Hey, if you guys are still looking for some customers to sell the cookies to, I can point you guys in the direction of this one lady that Winston and I walked past as we were on our way to the park before we ran into you guys."

"Umm, Skippy," Winston began, a mild look of uncertainty on his face, "Are you sure that sending Lola and her siblings in the direction of that lady in the armor would be a good idea?"

"Hang on a minute, boys," Lincoln began as he looked down at the respective crushes of the twins. To Winston, Lincoln asked, "What do you mean by 'that lady in the armor'?"

With a sigh that sounded mildly uncertain, Winston turned to face Lincoln properly. "As Skippy and I were making our way to the nearby park so we could play there," Winston began, "We saw this one woman walk by us. She looked to be a young adult woman, such as your older sister Lori or Anna Ace's older sister Allison."

"She's a fair-skinned lady with red hair that reaches her waist," Skippy commented, "And when I say red, I don't mean like the reddish-orange color the Spokes brothers Rusty and Rocky have going on. This lady's hair was, like, crimson red. Sort of like blood."

"She wore armor that covered the upper half of her body, but not her arms," Winston went on, "Although her armor did have pauldrons to cover her shoulders. She also wore a pair of gauntlets that went up to the crooks of her elbows, a dark blue skirt that reached about an inch above her knees, and a pair of dark bluish boots that reach about two inches away from her knees."

Lincoln held a hand to his chin as he hummed, contemplating what he and his sisters had just heard from the two six-year-old boys. "…The skirt and boots sound similar to what me and the girls' sister Luna has, although Luna prefers purple over dark blue," the sole Loud boy began, "But the armor, pauldrons and gauntlets don't make a lot of sense."

"The lady was eating from a small bag of white powdered donuts as Skippy and I walked by her," Winston said, "She accidentally bumped into us due to being focused on her bag of mini powdered donuts. She apologized to us, mentioned how she was annoyed that she couldn't find a bakery, and then left. We then saw her enter a house that looks like no one lives there."

Nodding in agreement, Skippy said, "Her eating the donuts and complaining about not being able to find a bakery is why I think the lady would be interested in buying cookies from you girls, because she sounds like she has a sweet tooth. If you girls want, Winston and I can lead you and your brother over to the house that we saw the armored lady go into."

Winston looked like he was going to object. Lincoln, understanding Winston's reasons without having to actually hear him speak said reasons out loud, was about to voice similar objections as to what Winston was going to say. But before either boy could state his piece, Lola and Lana both enthusiastically ran up to their respective crush. "That would be totally awesome, Skippy!" Lana said, barely able to keep her excitement in check.

"The more boxes that Lana and I sell, the more likely we'll win the prize that Scout Leader Vivian is offering to whoever sells the most boxes of cookies," Lola remarked, "You two will take me, Lana and Lincoln to see this red-haired lady, won't you, Winston?"

Winston, although he looked unsure about going to see a lady that was casually walking around Royal Woods _in armor_, was ultimately unable to say no to the pageant-winning Loud sister, thus he agreed to help Skippy lead Lola, Lana and Lincoln to another potential customer. "I hope that I can count on seeing you and your sister come by my family's place later," Winston remarked, "I have something of a penchant for the Bluebell Scout brand shortbread cookies."

* * *

Winston and Skippy led the Loud twins and Lincoln to the house that they (Winston and Skippy) saw the red-haired lady who wore armor go into earlier before they took their leave to try going to the park again. It was Lola, who had been leading the selling pitch that she and Lana were using to sell cookies, who knocked on the door. Someone did indeed answer the door, but it was not the red-haired lady who wore armor.

Instead, the door was answered by a young adult man who Lincoln estimated to be around the same age as the Ace twins, Aggro and Allison. The young adult man had fair skin that had a very (i.e. hardly noticeable) light tan to it, and his hair, which was of a medium-long length, was spiky and…salmon pink for some odd reason.

The young adult man wore a black sleeveless waistcoat that had gold-colored trim that was open, exposing his moderately but noticeably chiseled body, a black cloth worn around his waist and held up with a brown leather belt (the cloth had gold trim just like the waistcoat), a pair of knee-length white trousers, and pair of black open-toed men's sandals. Also, the young adult man wore a white scarf around his neck; there were black lines on the scarf that gave it the look of being made from scales, and there were fringes on both ends of the scarf. Lincoln also spotted a red tattoo of some kind on the man's right shoulder.

Looking down at Lincoln and the Loud twins, the young adult man said, "Is there anything that I can help you kids with?"

"Hi, yes," Lana began, "My sister here and I are members of the Bluebell Scouts, and we're going door to door trying to raise money by selling boxes of Bluebell Scout brand cookies." Gesturing to Lincoln, Lana said, "Me and my sister's older brother here is keeping an eye on us while we're going around."

"Would you or anyone in your household be interested in buying a box of cookies from us?" Lola asked as she and Lana looked up at the young adult man.

After looking at the Loud twins for a few seconds, the young adult man said, "Hold on." Turning his head to look into the house, the young adult man shouted, "Hey, Erza! There are some kids here going door to door selling cookies! You want to buy a box or two from them?" After a few seconds of waiting, the young adult man was joined at the front door by a young adult lady who perfectly resembled the description that the Loud twins and Lincoln got from Winston and Skippy. The lady was still even wearing the armor that the boys had described.

Pointing to the lady, Lana said, "Hey, you look like the lady that Skippy and Winston say they bumped into on their way to the park!"

"Oh, you know those boys?" the lady replied, "Yeah, can you tell them sorry again for bumping into them? I was distracted by a bag of mini powdered donuts. But that's beside the point. I believe that introductions are in order." Gesturing to herself, the lady said, "My name is Erza Scarlet, and my friend here at the front door with me is Natsu Dragneel."

"Erza and I, along with our friends Happy, Gray, Gajeel and Pantherlily, all came here from out of town," Natsu explained, "We know hardly anything about the local customs here."

Nodding in agreement, Erza said, "Apparently, seeing someone walking around while they are wearing armor is considered an interesting sight in these parts."

Lincoln, crossing his arms over his chest, looked up at Natsu and Erza. "Well there usually isn't much of a need to wear armor around here," the white-haired boy remarked in a dry tone with a hint of knowing sarcasm in his words, "Least of all metal plate armor that looks like what would be worn by a medieval knight."

Erza nodded in acknowledgement to Lincoln, understanding the point that he was trying to make. "Well it is part of my equipment," the red-haired lady explained. Holding up a hand like she was holding a can of soda, Erza said, "Requip." Suddenly, a shining light that was at least three feet long came into existence in Erza's hand. The glowing light eventually faded, but in its place was a longsword whose blade alone was three feet long. With a bit of a smirk, Erza added as she held up her summoned sword, "And this one of my many weapons."

Lincoln and the Loud twins looked shocked and dumbfounded as the three of them regarded the red-haired lady. "Did…" Lana began, "…Did you just summon a sword into existence?"

"Mmm," Erza began, "It would be more accurate to say that I pulled a sword that I kept stored in a pocket dimension out of said dimension."

"Oh yeah, that's something else about me, Erza, Gray and Gajeel," Natsu remarked, "The lot of us are all mages." Jerking a thumb at Erza, Natsu added, "Although just so you know, only Erza here can use Requip magic."

The three Loud siblings, once again, looked dumbfounded. "…Mages?" Lincoln repeated.

Nodding in the affirmative, Erza said, "Yes. Mages."

"We can explain more about why our team is here in your town inside," Natsu remarked as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder to point to the inside of the house, "You kids want to come in for a bit?"

"I still haven't quite satisfied my sweet tooth, so I would be interested in buying some of your cookies," Erza added.

Lincoln was about to object; after all, this Natsu fellow and Erza lady were not only complete strangers, but they were complete strangers that could apparently use magic. This had danger written all over it. However, before the sole Loud boy could even get one word out, both Lola and Lana cheered in delight at the prospect of getting to make another sale. Besides, Natsu and Erza both seemed friendly enough, so the twins had no reason to suspect them of anything.

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lincoln begrudgingly followed his little sisters into the house.

* * *

Once inside the house, Lincoln and the twins were led to what was the living room, where they spotted two guys who looked to be around the same age as Natsu, as well as two cats. One of the cats was black and, for some reason, wore a mini pair of green pants, while the other cat was, to the complete bafflement of Lincoln, blue in color.

Looking over to where Lincoln and the twins stood, the guy that had long jet black hair that was spiky and slicked back turned his attention to Natsu and Erza before saying in a gruff voice, "Hey Scarlet, Salamander, who the hell are these kids?"

"The girls belong to a local scouting group that sells cookies, Gajeel," Erza explained, "And the boy is their older brother, tagging along to keep an eye on them."

"And you invited them in because…" the man, apparently named Gajeel, said as he stood up and made his way over. Gajeel was a tall guy with fair, somewhat tanned skin that had metal studs sticking out all over. His hair, as previously said, was long, spiky, slicked-back and jet black in color. He wore a sleeveless black tunic that was closed up until a little bit past his waist, at which point it was open, and said tunic reached his knees. He wore a pair of tan slacks that were tucked into black boots that reached halfway up his shins. Gajeel also had a tattoo on his left shoulder; it was the exact same shape as Natsu's tattoo, but Gajeel's was black as opposed to Natsu's red.

Gesturing to Lincoln and the Loud twins, Gajeel said while facing Erza and Natsu, "Don't the two of you think that inviting these kids, who you've literally just met, into this abandoned house that the six of us are squatting in while we're here on our quest is a bad idea? I mean, what would their parents say if they found out that their kids went into a house occupied by, who they would see as, complete and total strangers?"

Erza simply patted Gajeel on his left shoulder, right on where his black tattoo was. "Well this is certainly interesting, Gajeel," the Requip mage remarked in a mildly amused tone, "I wouldn't have ever expected you to worry about something like that. Could it be that you having recently become a parent yourself has made you see things in a different light?"

Pointing to Gajeel, Lana said, "Excuse me, ma'am, but did you just say that your friend here recently became a dad?"

"Oh yeah," the guy who was sitting on the floor with Gajeel called out as he got up and walked over to where everyone was standing. This third guy, similar to Natsu and Gajeel, was a young adult man. He had fair skin, spiky and somewhat scruffy-looking jet black hair roughly the same length as Natsu's hair, and he wore a silver men's chain necklace with a sword charm on it (the sword charm had a small stone in it), a pair of dark gray to black pants, the ends of which were tucked into blackish boots that reached halfway up his shins, and…that's it.

The third young adult man wasn't wearing a shirt, which exposed a tattoo on his body, located on his right pectoral, under the collarbone. To Lincoln's piqued interest, the third guy's tattoo was the exact same shape as the ones sported by Natsu and Gajeel; the third guy's tattoo was dark blue in color. There was also another tattoo of some manner on his right arm.

Regarding the third guy with some curiosity, Lincoln asked, "Umm, who are you?"

Jerking a thumb over his shoulder to point at the third guy, Natsu said, "Oh, that's our friend Gray. Just so you guys know, Gray has a habit of unknowingly taking his clothes off."

"Shut up, Natsu," Gray said to his friend. Turning to face Lincoln and the Loud twins, Gray continued, "But yeah, as I was trying to say, Gajeel did, in fact, recently become a dad." Pointing over to where Gajeel stood, Gray remarked, "Gajeel and his girlfriend became parents a few days before the lot of us came out here after she had given birth."

"Wait a minute," Lola began, a mildly firm and confused look on her face. Looking up at Gajeel, the pageant-winning Loud twin said, "The two of you aren't even married?"

With an indifferent shrug, Gajeel said, "Shorty and I aren't even engaged." Seeing the baffled looks on the faces of the twins (Lana was just as shocked), Gajeel said, "Look kids, it's not all that big a deal over where my friends here and I live. At least not as much of a big deal as it is here, apparently."

"Umm, sir," Lana began, "How old is your girlfriend?"

Gajeel looked like he was thinking hard for a bit. After a few seconds, Gajeel gave an indifferent shrug while saying, "She's somewhere between eighteen to twenty-one. I honestly have no clue."

"Gajeel's girlfriend is also the mayor of the town that we live in," the black cat with rounded ears said as he flew up with white feathery wings that sprouted out of his back and landed on Gajeel's left shoulder. The wings then disappeared, as if the cat had willed it.

Nodding in understanding, Lana said with a hint of sarcasm in her tone, "Sure, that makes sense. A guy who is apparently a mage that can use magic got a girl that he isn't even engaged to-" The tomboyish Loud twin stopped midsentence, looking like she had just realized something. "…Did that cat just talk?" Lana asked in a tone of subdued dumbfoundedness.

Nodding in the affirmative, the cat on Gajeel's shoulders said with a similar hint of sarcasm in his tone, "That cat also flew." To showcase his point, the black cat made his white feathery wings appear again, allowing him to fly in place next to Gajeel at around shoulder level. To help the black cat's point along, the blue cat _also_ sprouted a pair of white feathery wings and flew over to fly in place right next to the black cat.

"I can also talk and fly!" the blue cat stated, a hint of pride in his tone.

Lincoln and the Loud twins all went wide-eyed with shock. Seeing those surprised looks on the faces of the kids, the guys and Erza could not help but chuckle a bit. After her laughter died down enough, Erza said, "Forgive us, kids, but the looks on your faces are pretty amusing. But enough of that." Gesturing to the talking flying cats, Erza explained, "These cats are what are known over where the boys and I live as 'Exceed'."

"My name is Happy," the blue cat said as he introduced himself. Gesturing to the black cat, Happy continued, "And that's Pantherlily. The two of us are partnered up with Natsu and Gajeel respectively." After he finished the introduction, Happy said to the Loud kids with a hint of casual curiosity in his tone, "I'm going to guess that the three of you don't see a whole lot of Exeed here in these parts?"

"Uhh, yeah," Lana replied, "Talking cats that can sprout wings that can let them fly aren't exactly a common sight here in Royal Woods." Looking at Happy and Pantherlily with a stern, serious look, the tomboyish loud twin asked, "Are the two of you magic as well?"

Nodding once in the affirmative, Pantherlily said, "Yes, Happy and I can use magic."

Lincoln and the Loud twins were all having trouble comprehending what was going on. But then again, it wouldn't be fair to say that this was the _first_ time that siblings from the Loud family had dealt with peculiar people. However, it was usually Luna who brought these peculiar people by; there could be no forgetting the musically inclined Loud sister's pink-haired music tutor, as well as said music tutor's twelve-year-old grandnephew. And just recently, Luna's friend who lives out in California, Crow Hogan, had visited the Louds.

Figuring that it would save both time and energy, Lincoln decided to remind his younger sisters that they came here to try and sell some cookies to the people living (i.e. squatting) at this house. Erza ended up buying all the boxes of Bluebell Scout brand fudge ripple cookies.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER NINETEEN

Author's note:

The appearance of the Fairy Tail characters here will eventually tie in to a chapter of the Fairy Tail story that I either have up already or will get up soon (the chapter in question, not the story itself). But more on that later. For now, the stage is being set, and the person who Lincoln has to deal with due to them causing trouble for Lola and Lana will begin to surface sometime in the next chapter. If anyone can accurately guess who the antagonist will be, they'll get a cookie.

...The next chapter ain't too far off, either. Due to time constraints I am facing IRL right now, I'll be uploading the entirety of the Lola and Lana arc of this story in very quick order. Expect the next chapter very soon.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter twenty: Tiara-cap scouts part two- Tainted treats

The day after Lincoln escorted his younger sisters Lola and Lana around as they sold cookies for the Bluebell Scouts, the scouting group that they belong to, the white-haired boy could be seen walking along in the neighborhood where his family lived. Accompanying Lincoln at the time were three other kids.

The first two consisted of Lincoln's friend Rusty Spokes and Rusty's younger brother Rocky; Rusty wanted to get out of the house and figured that hanging with a friend would be the way to accomplish that. Rocky came along because Rusty decided to bring him along, out of fear that he (Rusty) would have otherwise been torn apart by the Loud girls without someone to throw at them as a distraction.

The third kid accompanying Lincoln was Ronnie Anne Santiago, a Hispanic girl who, despite what her tomboyish and rough personality may tell you, is actually rather sweet on the sole Loud boy. Her reasons for accompanying Lincoln was two-part; one, Ronnie Anne, as previously said, has something of a thing for Lincoln, and two, Ronnie Anne's family was one of the people who had bought boxes of Bluebell Scout cookies from Lola and Lana.

"You think your sisters still have a few boxes of the fudge drizzled cookies that I can buy?" Ronnie Anne asked Lincoln as the two of them and the Spokes brothers made their way over to the Loud family residence, "Because Carlota ate all of the cookies in the box I bought from your sisters yesterday."

"You'll have to ask them," Lincoln replied to his (more than a) friend, "But knowing them, if Lola and Lana do have a box of the cookies you want available, they would be more than glad to sell one to you. They're trying to sell the most boxes because if they do, then they will win some big prize, or whatever."

Letting out a bit of a chuckle, Rusty remarked, "At least the Bluebell Scouts are no longer trying to peddle those god awful Kale Puffs as part of the Scout Leader's 'Healthy Initiative' that she was trying to push a while ago." With a gentle shake of his head, Rusty remarked, "A while ago, me and Rocky's dad found a small group of raccoons living in a duct space in the ceiling of Duds for Dudes, so he tried baiting them out with some of those Kale Puffs so he could catch them all and release them into the woods. When he went back to check on the progress, he found that all of the raccoons had died."

Giving both Lincoln and Ronnie Anne a dry monotone look, Rocky said, "It's true. Me and Rusty's dad killed the raccoons with the Kale Puff bait that he had set up. I wish that I was making this up."

"I…think those Kale Puffs were less healthy than Scout Leader Vivian was hoping for," Lincoln said as he and the others had reached the front door of the Loud family residence. Opening the door, Lincoln led the Spokes brothers and Ronnie Anne inside. However, when the kids entered the Loud family residence, they saw that Lincoln's various sisters, Lola and Lana especially, were entertaining a group consisting of four familiar people and two familiar cats.

"…And so," Erza Scarlet said as she was recounting a story to the Loud sisters, "The guild had to pay no less than one and a half million jewel to pay off the cleaning crew that was hired to clean the guild hall after the incident on Taco Tuesday."

Lincoln was surprised; the four mages and their two talking cats that he and the Loud twins had encountered the previous day were sitting in the living room with all ten of the Loud girls. "Hey, aren't you guys those squatters that Lola, Lana and I encountered yesterday?" Lincoln said as he and his friends entered the living room, making the Loud girls, the mages and the two talking cats turn their direction to face Lincoln and his group.

"Oh, you're that white-haired boy who is the older brother of the girls that Erza bought cookies from," Natsu Dragneel remarked as he spotted Lincoln.

"Hang on a minute," Lola said, getting all the mages to turn to look at her. Pointing to Erza, Lola asked, "You and your friends all gave one and a half million jewels to a cleaning crew to clean up your place of work?"

"Jewel is actually the name of the currency over where we live," Gajeel Redfox explained. The man then leaned to the side, fished out a wallet from his right back pocket on his pants, opened the wallet, and fished out a paper bill that resembled a dollar bill, except that the color was a pale dark tannish color, and the number shown was 1,000 as opposed to one. Gajeel handed the bill to Lori, telling her to pass it around so all of her sisters can see it, but said that the bill eventually had to be returned to him.

As the girls took turns looking at the paper bill of foreign currency, Gajeel explained, "This is a one-thousand jewel bill."

"It looks a lot different from the dollar bills used around here," Lynn remarked as she, being the last sister to hold the jewel bill, handed it back to Gajeel.

Nodding in agreement as he put his money back, Gajeel said, "Yeah, and speaking of the local money here, our funds in that regard are kind of low." Jerking a thumb at Erza, Gajeel added, "Not helping matters for us is Scarlet here blowing at least thirty percent of the local currency that we have on just sweets."

Leni, with a confused look on her face, said, "Wait a minute, I thought the lady with the long red pretty hair was named Erza."

"She is named Erza," Gray Fullbuster began to explain, "It's just that Gajeel usually refers to members of Fairy Tail by either their last name or by some nickname. I can't think of anyone who Gajeel refers to by their first actual name, aside from Juvia."

"Umm, sorry for interrupting," Ronnie Anne said, getting everyone to look at her. Gesturing to the mages, the Hispanic tomboy asked, "But who the heck are you guys?"

Gesturing to the mages, Lincoln said, "These fellows are a group of people that Lola, Lana and I found squatting in an unoccupied house yesterday. They are mages who came here for some manner of quest that they are trying to accomplish."

Giving Lincoln a dry look, Ronnie Anne said, "…Mages."

"You don't believe us?" Gray said to the Queen of Pain. With Ronnie Anne's focus on him, Gray held his left hand palm facing up as he pounded the palm with the end of his right fist. With light bluish-white arcane circles appearing in front of his hand and fist, Gray said, "Ice Make Sculpture!" A blast of cold air burst out from Gray's hands, flying all around the room. After the cold air faded, Gray lifted his fist up from his left hand, revealing a small sculpture made of ice resting in the center of his left hand's palm. It looked remarkably like the tattoos that Lincoln saw on Gray, Natsu and Gajeel.

Showing Ronnie Anne the small ice sculpture that he had just made, Gray said, "And that was a demonstration of my Ice Make magic."

Ronnie Anne, as well as the Spokes brothers, went wide-eyed with shock and surprise. The three of them were all silent until Rusty, emboldened just a bit, decided to break the silence. "Can you use some sort of fire spell?" the older Spokes boy asked Gray.

"No, I'm just ice magic," Gray replied. Pointing to Natsu, Gray continued, "But Natsu here can use a variation of fire magic."

"Mmm hmm," Natsu said as he nodded once in the affirmative to Rusty, "I can use Fire Dragon Slayer magic."

"It's a fire-attribute variation of Dragon Slayer magic," Happy began to explain, "Which is magic designed specifically for slaying dragons. Because it's strong enough to hurt dragons, Dragon Slayer magic is very powerful attack magic regardless of who it's-"

Happy was cut off midsentence when Ronnie Anne pointed at him and exclaimed, "Holy crap, that cat can talk!"

Sighing in a mildly annoyed tone, Pantherlily said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, "Yes, that cat can talk, as can the other one." Looking at the kids who had shown up, Pantherlily continued without the sarcasm, "It's bad enough that the four-year-old wants to drag me and Happy off to some lab she's apparently got because she wants to study us due to our ability to talk, as well as our ability to sprout wings and fly. But I will not be-"

"Pantherlily, chill a cycle, dude," Gajeel said, patting the small black cat on his head.

"So can I ask a rather pertinent question?" Lincoln began. Pointing to the mages, the sole Loud boy asked, "Why are you guys here?"

"Oh, I bought more cookies from the girls while they were being escorted by the older girl in the sleeveless blue top," Erza began to explain to Lincoln while pointing at Lori, "But when the older girl pointed out how my companions and I could get into some legal trouble by squatting in the house we were staying at while we're in this area, the younger girls immediately offered to let my companions and I stay here. The four-year-old also agreed to let my group stay here upon seeing Happy and Pantherlily, and the one dressed in black wants to see more of our magic."

"The six of us will be crashing in your basement," Natsu informed Lincoln.

Lincoln was surprised to be hearing that the mages and their talking cats, who Lincoln and the twins had only just encountered the previous day, would now be crashing in the Loud family's basement until their 'quest', whatever it was, had been completed. It made sense that Lola and Lana, who the mages were nice to, wanted to let them stay in a place where they wouldn't get into trouble; it also made sense that Lisa, who would want to study something as interesting as talking cats that can fly, and Lucy, who had a keen interest in magic, also joined the 'let the mages stay with us' bandwagon.

With a shrug, Lincoln figured that either way it was out of his hands, so he wasn't even going to try and fight it. Besides which, the mages seem like a good enough sort. The sole Loud boy had little reason to think that they would do anything bad.

* * *

The following day, Lincoln was in his family's back yard, sitting in a lawn chair as he watched the twins and Lucy talk to the mages. Erza's entire form began to glow brightly, and when the glowing faded, the red-haired lady was now wearing a suit of armor that completely covered her form save for her face. "…And this is my Adamantine Armor," Erza said to the kids, "It boasts one of the highest defensive ratings among all of my sets of armor."

"So your magic lets you summon weapons and suits of armor," Lucy remarked. Turning to look at Natsu and Gajeel, Lucy said, "I saw what your friend in the armor can do, as well as what your friend who seemingly refuses to wear a shirt can do. But what can the two of you do?"

"I believe Mr. Shirtless said that the guy with the pink hair can use fire magic?" Lola said, sounding like she was guessing more than saying.

Nodding in the affirmative, Natsu said, "Yeah, Gray was correct." Natsu then turned around, looked up into the sky, pounded his fists together which caused red arcane circles to appear, and then shouted, "Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu then breathed a large blast of fire up into the sky, making the young girls all jump back out of surprise. Even Lincoln, who was only there to keep an eye on his sisters, jumped in his seat a bit.

That fire breath looked like it had come from a real-life dragon! It not only traveled far enough into the air to get close to planes, but it looked powerful enough to actually shoot one of those planes down! The sole Loud boy was already weary of the mages to an extent, but seeing that Natsu is apparently a fire-breathing dragon in human form, Lincoln's wariness increased by at least ten fold.

"Pfft, what Salamander did was nothing, kids," Gajeel said to the younger Loud girls, "Watch this." Gajeel turned around himself, turned his head to look up into the sky, and then copied most of the same movements as Natsu. However, instead of the red arcane circle Natsu had, Gajeel made a light greenish arcane circle. "Iron Dragon's Roar!" Gajeel shouted before unleashing his spell into the sky.

Gajeel's spell looked similar in form to Natsu's spell, but instead of a blast of fire, it was a tornado that contained shards of metal. Gajeel ended his spell, but a few stray bits of metal shards still fell on the ground regardless. Upon seeing Gajeel's spell, Lincoln was even more alarmed than he was previously. However, the younger Loud girls were nothing but impressed with the magic used by the Dragon Slayer mages.

"That was wicked," Lucy remarked, "Both spells." Looking up at Natsu and Gajeel, the gothic Loud sister asked, "And you say your respective magics are powerful enough to harm dragons?"

"Totally," Natsu replied, "Of course, dragons aren't exactly common, even over where my friends and I come from. But still, can you imagine a bandit trying to tank out a spell like my Fire Dragon's Roar?"

The younger Loud girls, Lola and Lana especially, all laughed at the notion of a human trying to endure being hit by an attack spell that was powerful enough to hurt a dragon. Even Lincoln, who was still mildly rattled by seeing the sheer raw magical power of the Dragon Slayers, could not help but let out a laugh or two at the thought of a common criminal being steamrolled by a magic he could never hope to stand up to.

"I have a variation of Slayer magic myself, in case you kids are interested," Gray remarked. He made the same movements as Natsu and Gajeel, given that he was about to use a spell that he didn't want to aim at anyone. After he turned his head to the sky, Gray shouted, "Ice Demon's Rage!" Gray then released a large blast of cold air, ice and snow from his mouth, letting it shoot upwards, similar to what Natsu and Gajeel did with their respective Dragon roars.

When the last of the spell was finished, Gray turned to face the girls and said, "In addition to Ice Make magic, I am also an Ice Demon Slayer mage."

"Demon Slayer magic is to demons what Dragon Slayer magic is to dragons," Erza stated, "In case it wasn't obvious enough."

"So in addition to dragons," Lucy began, "There are also demons."

Nudging her gothic older sister with her left elbow, Lana said with a hint of knowingness in her tone, "I bet that notion has you excited, ehh?"

Turing to regard Lana, Lucy said, "What makes you think that I, of all people, would be excited at the notion of there being demons?"

"Just because your older sister seems to be a rather dark person does not mean she is straight up like that, young lady," Erza remarked to Lana. Using her Requip magic, Erza took off her Adamantine armor, swapping back into her usual armor. "But enough of that business," Erza said, "What do you girls think of the magic that my companions and I are capable of?"

"I wish I could use magic like that," Lucy replied right away, "I've had an interest in the arcane for the longest time, but the most that I was able to do was attempt to commune with the spirits of the departed."

Turning to face the boys, Erza said, "Hey Natsu, Gray, Gajeel. You boys think we ought to give her a few minor magical items?"

"What?" Lincoln said right away, unintentionally speaking out loud.

"I got a spare Light Pen," Natsu said as he held up his right hand.

Gajeel took off the bag over his bag, set it down on the ground, and opened it, saying as he was fishing around in the bag, "I have Shorty's old pair of Gale-Force Reading Glasses. It's a pair of times thirty-two speed, so it should suffice."

"You sure Levy won't mind?" Natsu asked his fellow Dragon Slayer.

"Her new pair has a speed of times sixty-four," Gajeel replied as he looked up from his bag, "It's part of why I got her old pair."

"I have an extra ColorS on hand," Gray said to Erza as he raised a hand, "Would that help?"

Nodding in agreement, Erza remarked, "Yes, that will do nicely. And I have a pair of Lacrima Model Magic Headphones that I can throw in." Turning to face Lucy, Erza said, "Although you are not a mage, you should still be able to make use of the various Magic Items that me and my companions would be willing to offer to you."

"That…" Lucy said, "…Would be AWESOME."

…

After the mages had given Lucy the Magic Items they offered her, as well as show her how each one worked, they returned to the backyard where Lincoln and the twins were still hanging out in, as Lucy had gone off to try and get used to using her new gifts. "Anyway," Erza said to Lincoln and the twins, "The boys and I have to go collect Happy and Pantherlily from that scientist little sister of yours before we head out. We're going to try looking around town a bit to see if we can't find any sign of the woman we're trying to investigate."

"You're trying to investigate a woman?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah," Natsu replied, "That's the quest that my friends and I are on. We're trying to track down a woman known only as Powder, who is peddling drugs in this area. Powder's drug ring has even made its way to Magnolia Town, which is where my friends and I come from."

Lincoln and the twins were all alarmed to hear that there was apparently a drug ring operating in the Royal Woods area, and that said drug ring apparently reached far enough to affect the home town of the mages. Lincoln was about to ask something, but the door that led from the house into the backyard burst open, making the Loud kids and the mages turn to see Happy and Pantherlily fly out at high speeds, heading straight for their respective Dragon Slayer partners.

"That little girl tried sticking something cold up my butt!" Pantherlily practically exclaimed, "Save me, Gajeel!"

"I've been dirtied!" Happy cried as he tried to hide behind Natsu.

As the Exceed were freaking out, Lisa came running into the backyard. "It's just a rectal thermometer, you two!" the brainy Loud sister declared, "It's _supposed_ to go up your butt!"

Holding his hand out palm-first to make Lisa stop, Natsu said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You tried sticking a thermometer up Happy's butt?"

"A _rectal_ thermometer, yes," Lisa explained, "It was part of the check-up I was doing to get some basic readings on your flying cats!"

"Lisa," Lincoln began, "What have you been told about using the rectal thermometer on peoples' pets without at least informing them first? Remember when Aggro-sensei came by a few weeks ago to complain about you giving Kyubi a 'check-up'?"

Holding up a hand, Natsu said, "Happy isn't a pet. He's more like a partner to me."

Turning to face the Fire Dragon slayer, Lincoln replied, "That's not the point." Turning back around to face Lisa, the sole Loud boy said, "Seriously, Lisa. When will you learn?"

* * *

The mages failed to find anything on their search, so they returned to the Loud residence to rest for the day, figuring that they could try the next day. And try they did, as they left for their second try shortly after breakfast. Lincoln believed that Natsu and his fellows ought to be left to do their own thing. Besides which, the white-haired boy went to Camp Bluebell with Lola and Lana; once again, he had been roped into escorting the twins as they went about their scouting duties. However, this trip to the camp had special meaning.

The fruits of the Bluebell Scouts' efforts in the cookie sale were about to be announced.

Lincoln figured that Lola and Lana had a shot at winning, considering the number of boxes of cookies that they were able to sell thanks to a combination of all of the people who the twins were able to sell to and the fact that Erza alone bought at least fifteen boxes (which, according to Natsu before he and the other mages left that morning to try looking for their target again, she had already gone through).

Even though he believed that the twins' chances were good, Lincoln wasn't going to assume automatically that the twins would win; there could always be a contestant in the cookie sale who was able to pull out a surprise win out of nowhere. Even if the twins end up not placing first, the sole Loud boy figured they had to be among the top sellers, and that it would get them some sort of prize either way.

That ended up being the case as, to the disappointment of Lola and Lana, they placed second in the cookie sale. They lost to a girl named Kimi; Kimi was a girl around the same age, height and weight as either of the twins. She was fair skinned girl, she had straight black hair that reached the tips of her shoulder blades, eyes that clearly denoted an Asian heritage, and Kimi wore a green t-shirt over a green and dark blue striped long-sleeved shirt, a green simple hairband on her head similar to how Lola wears her tiara, a pair of shorts, green shoes and a pair of socks.

"Let's give a round of applause to Kimi, everyone!" Scout Leader Vivian declared as she was trying to get the other Bluebell Scouts to applaud their fellow scout, "She was able to sell well over two-hundred boxes of the cookies! That breaks every sale record in Bluebell Scout history! Come on, girls!"

After some of the other scouts applauded (from the looks of it, most of them only did so because their Scout Leader told them to), Vivian turned her attention to Kimi. "Go on, Kimi," Vivian said in an amazed tone, "Tell the other girls about your success!"

Kimi turned her attention to the rest of the Bluebell Scouts, some of which were accompanied by their respective relatives who were keeping an eye on them. Lincoln could see that the little girl was nervous as all get out to have so much attention placed on her all at once. "Umm," Kimi said as she finally began to give her thanks for the applause, "My mom helped me a lot, given that she drove me around to people that I sold cookies to."

"Ah yes," Vivian said, "We can't forget the contribution of the parents, now can we? Let's give Kimi's mother Tomo a round of applause as well!" Everyone turned to face the direction that Vivian was gesturing in, and as such, they spotted an Asian woman who clearly had to be Kimi's mom Tomo. She was fair skinned, had straight black hair that ended at the bottom of her neck, and she wore a simple pale blue t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a white pair of women's sandals.

Tomo seemed a bit embarrassed by the applause, but she did put up with being then center of attention far better than her timid daughter. While the adults were applauding Tomo, Lincoln turned his attention to Lola and Lana, both of which were still upset that they didn't win the cool prize that Kimi got for selling the most boxes.

"…The prize you girls got for selling the second-most amount of cookie boxes is still rather nice," the white-haired boy pointed out, trying to be as helpful as possible.

The twins both turned their attention to face their older brother. "But we still didn't get first place, though," Lana complained, drawing a nod of agreement from Lola.

Lincoln regarded the twins with a wry look. "…The two of you are starting to sound like Lynn," the sole Loud boy remarked, "Look, girls. Getting first place isn't everything. Even I don't place first in every junior Kendo tournament at the local youth center, and yet I have not once had any issue with losing." Changing tune slightly, Lincoln said, "Come on, girls. If you two want, I'll take you to the ice cream shop when we get out of here."

Just as Lincoln had expected, the prospect of ice cream made both Lola and Lana perk right back up. Seeing the excited smiles on the twins' respective faces, Lincoln said, "There we go. Now there are the smiles that I like to see so much."

* * *

Later that day, after getting the twins home from the ice cream shop, Lincoln could be seen walking through the neighborhood area of Royal Woods; Kimi, the girl who sold the most boxes of Bluebell Scout cookies, accidentally dropped an item of hers, a stuffed dragon roughly the size of Lincoln's own stuffed animal Bun-Bun, back at Camp Bluebell and forgot to get it back. Lola told Lincoln that Kimi lived in the same neighborhood as them, and even gave him her address.

Thus the sole Loud boy, being the kind twelve-year-old that he was, could be seen walking through the residential area of Royal Woods, a stuffed dragon plushy in his right hand. Although this walking caused a little bit of pain in Lincoln's injured left leg, he was still more than glad to reunite the plushy with Kimi; after all, he'd appreciate it if he was in a similar situation where Bun-Bun had gone missing and someone returned it to him.

Eventually, the white-haired boy made his way to a house in the residential area. The house looked rather similar to the house that the Loud family's neighbor, Mr. Grouse, lived in right next door to them; the only difference was that this house was only a one-story tall instead of two. Walking up the front door, Lincoln was intending to knock on it. However, something that he saw out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Now normally, it is considered the height of rudeness (at an absolute minimum) to look through someone's window into their house. After all, some might get the idea that, should they see a person doing that, then said person might be thinking of robbing the place. However, when the sole Loud boy saw a scene that looked suspicious on what appeared to be a dining room table, he could not help himself but give it a bit of a better look. What he ended up seeing alarmed him to no end, not to mention terrify him to some degree.

Laying on the table were a few sandwich-sized plastic baggies containing what looked to be some manner of white powdery substance. Furthermore, there was an open notebook laying on the table, a small razor lying next to four small white powdery lines, and even a small stack of money lying near the open notebook. A quick glace told Lincoln that the room that had all of this was closed off, leading him to suspect that access to the room was under someone's complete and total control.

Quickly shaking the matter out of his head, Lincoln took a quick look around; he was certain that no one had seen him look into someone else's window just now (the part of the residential area that he was in was somewhat underpopulated). Wanting to get out of there as quickly as he could manage, Lincoln went right to the front door and knocked on it a few times. After a couple of seconds, the door was answered by Kimi's mom Tomo.

Giving the white-haired boy a curious look, Tomo asked, "Hey, weren't you that one boy who was at the campgrounds for the Bluebell Scouts earlier?"

"Yeah, my little sisters are in the Bluebell Scouts," Lincoln explained. Holding up the dragon plushy, Lincoln continued, "Anyway, I believe that your daughter had left this behind at Camp Bluebell. I would like to return it now."

Smiling in a gentle but appreciative manner that only a mother can pull off, Tomo accepted the dragon plushy from the sole Loud boy. "Why thank you very much, young man," Tomo replied, "Kimi's been in something of a tizzy ever since she discovered that she misplaced that dragon plushy of hers. I'll let her know a relative of one of her friends in the Scouts came by with it."

Lincoln nodded in understanding as he bid Tomo farewell and took his leave. As he made his way out of that neighborhood, the white-haired boy was unable to shake what he saw through the window of the house where Tomo lived with her daughter. It was clear to him that someone in that house was working with illegal drugs; Lincoln had half a mind to contact local authorities and report what he had seen.

…Then he suddenly remembered that his family currently has a group that consisted of four mages and two talking cats that can fly crashing in their basement at the moment, and that the group came here to Royal Woods because they were trying to investigate a supposed drug ring operating in the area, as said drug ring had apparently reached to where they (the mages) had come from.

The sole Loud boy didn't have any idea if this was related to the mages' quest or not, but even so, he felt that he had to clue them in on things here. At the very least, the mages would be very ample backup to local law enforcement* when they were called in to investigate things, gather evidence and, if necessary, make some arrests. But if things played out like Lincoln thought, then the mages would get a great lead in their quest to investigate the supposed local drug ring.

…But what are the odds of that?

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER TWENTY

Author's note:

Things have gotten rather heated due to what Lincoln had uncovered. Things here can potentially lead to a number of rather unsettling revelations, and what Lincoln decides to do with said info that he had uncovered could spell the difference between a by-the-book regular police drug bust and the equivalent of sending an adult Bengal Tiger in to attack and kill a baby squirrel. Either way, that will have to wait until the next chapter (which should be out before long), where everything in this arc will be coming to bloom.

(*Fun Fact: Gajeel, in the manga/anime, actually has similar experience in this matter. It is canon.)


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter twenty-one: Tiara-cap scouts part three- Mage Magic: Drug Bust!

Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, had a great deal of trouble believing what he had just seen. While returning a lost animal plushy to a girl belonging to the same scouting troop as his little sisters Lola and Lana, the sole Loud boy spotted something through a window at the girl's house, that being a scene that looked like the house was the base of some manner of distribution ring for illegal narcotics.

Now normally, Lincoln would have gone straight to the local police about what he had seen. However, the white-haired boy had a _second_ option that he could take advantage of, and it was that option that he was deciding to implement in this scenario.

Currently, Lincoln's family was hosting a group of folks from out of town. These folks, their names being Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet and Gajeel Redfox, as well as two cats named Happy and Pantherlily, actually came to Royal Woods. What makes these specific out-of-towners so unique was the fact that the humans were mages (i.e. they can use magic), and that the cats can not only talk like humans but can also sprout white feathery wings that allowed them to fly.

The reason why this group of arcane out-of-towners came to Royal Woods is because they were on a quest to investigate some manner of drug ring that was local in the Michigan town, and that this drug ring apparent reached as far as over to where the mages and their talking flying cats all lived. Remembering that, Lincoln decided that it would be a good idea to inform the mages about what he had seen while he was returning the little girl's animal plushy. Granted, Lincoln had no idea if what he had seen would actually be connected to the quest that the mages were on, but he didn't see how informing the mages anyway would be a bad thing.

As such, all of that led to the current scene, where the mages, who were all in the Loud family's basement, were standing around while Lincoln told them about what he had seen. "…I see," Erza remarked, her tone mildly grim, as she folded her arms over her chest, the metal of her gauntlets clinking against her metal platebody armor, "So while returning the toy to that girl who is in the same scouting troop as the twins, you spotted a potential lead to the quest my group I are on."

The sole Loud boy nodded once in the affirmative, although he looked mildly worried. "I'm afraid that this might blow up in the faces of a lot of people," Lincoln remarked, "I'm also afraid that my sisters might find out that someone who produces and sells illegal drugs not only lives in our neighborhood, but that they live so close." With a worried sigh, Lincoln added, "Especially Lola and Lana, given that their friend in the Bluebell Scouts lives at the house where I saw all of the drugs at."

"Little dude," Gajeel began to remark in a reassuring tone, "It's okay to be afraid in this case. I mean, an illegal drug ring can seem pretty frightening to an innocent kid like yourself." Walking up to the white-haired boy, the Iron Dragon Slayer laid a hand on his left shoulder. "And that is all the more reason why I'm proud of you," Gajeel continued, "You did the right thing by telling my companions here and I about what you saw, despite the fact that you were frightened by what you had seen."

"Even if this lead turns out not to be connected to the quest we're on," Natsu remarked, "We still have an obligation to go bust that place that has the narcotics set-up." Turning to face his fellow mages, the Fire Dragon Slayer began, "Okay, you guys. What's the plan here?"

"We sneak over to the house that the kid here saw the drugs at," Gray began to say while pointing at Lincoln, "We do a quick bit of recon to confirm that there are illegal drugs there. If we do end up confirming the presence of drugs, the absolute first thing we have to do is contact the local law enforcement here and inform them, and then once we have the police coming, we go in and straighten things out."

Holding up a hand, Gajeel said, "Hold on a minute there, Fullbuster." Crossing his arms over his chest, Gajeel pointed out, "None of us knows where this place is located."

Pointing to Lincoln, Pantherlily said to the rest of the group, "This kid knows where the house is, given that he was just there."

Nodding in agreement with his black-furred fellow, Happy remarked, "Pantherlily's right. We can have the kid lead us to the house he saw the drugs at."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Gajeel said, "Hold on a minute there, Cat." While pointing at Lincoln, the Iron Dragon Slayer said as he continued speaking to the blue-furred exceed, "Are you seriously suggesting that the six of us should take this kid along with us on a drug bust?" Scoffing in a tone of disbelief, Gajeel continued while crossing his arms over his chest, "That has got to be one of the most reckless things I have ever heard."

Giving Gajeel a curious look, Erza said, "My, my, Gajeel. You having become a parent has really brought out a whole new side of you that most in Fairy Tail, myself included, would not have ever guessed that you possessed."

"I can give you the address to the place," Lincoln said as he pulled out a scrap of paper that had an address written on it; Lincoln's little sister Lola, having been able to overcome minor troubles in reading and writing, wrote this out for her big brother. Handing Natsu the scrap of paper, the sole Loud boy explained, "My sister Lola wrote this for me, given that she actually knows the girl whose toy I returned earlier."

Natsu, with Gray, Erza and Gajeel all looking over his shoulders to see the scrap, looked it over carefully for a few seconds. "…Even though I can barely read what this says," the Fire Dragon Slayer said, "I have no idea where this address is located."

"And there aren't any instructions written there to help us find the place in regards to any location here that we're familiar with," Gray added. Looking to the rest of his group, Gray said, "I think that Happy has a point on how bringing along the kid here would be a good idea."

Sighing in an exasperated tone, Gajeel said, "…Fine. But I am not going to be the one to tell the kid's parents that we have to bring him along with us on a drug bust."

"Actually, Gajeel," Erza said, patting the Iron Dragon slayer on his right shoulder, "None of us here will be telling Mr. and Mrs. Loud about how we have to take their son with us. At least until _after_ the fact."

Holding up a paw, Pantherlily remarked, "I have an idea on how we can do this. The six of us, taking the boy with us, will head to the house where the boy spotted the illegal drugs at. Then, as soon as we confirm the presence of illegal drugs, Happy and I will escort the boy back here right away while Gajeel, Natsu, Gray and Erza goes in to bust the drug distribution den. That way, not only will we actually be able to find and bust the place, but any and all potential danger to the boy will be minimized as much as possible. Sound good to everyone?"

The mages mulled over the black exceed's offered plan of action for a bit. Gajeel especially as, even though he didn't like the idea of putting Lincoln in any danger, eventually saw that there really wasn't much of a choice otherwise. At least this plan that his exceed partner had come up with reduced the amount of danger that Lincoln would be exposed to as much as possible. "That is probably as good of a plan that we can come up with, all things considered," Gajeel remarked, "All those in favor of Pantherlily's plan, say aye."

"Aye!" Happy cheered as he raised a paw. Following the blue-furred exceed was his black-furred counterpart, as well as all four of the mages.

With an amused smile, Gajeel said, "Well then, it looks like all of us are in agreement." Turning to face the sole Loud boy, Gajeel said, "Kid, I'm sorry that we have to take you along, but you're going to have to lead my companions and I to the house you spotted the drugs at. As soon as we can confirm that there really are dugs there, you'll be taken home straight away by Pantherlily and Salamander's cat. They can fly you home."

"I…" Lincoln remarked, "…Just hope they can put me down gently when we arrive here. My left leg is rather bad." Holding up his left wrist to show the medic alert bracelet that he wore, Lincoln added, "It's the reason why I have to wear this."

The six out-of-towners all nodded in understanding, with Gajeel even asking Pantherlily to remember to be gentle with Lincoln. After the mages and the exceeds had decided on how to go about carrying out their plan, they proceeded to spring it into action.

* * *

A short while later during the evening but sometime before night, Lincoln and the mages made their way over to the house where Kimi lived with her mother Tomo. With the white-haired boy leading the way, the group was able to get to the house within short order. After arriving at their destination, the group proceeded to assume some positions in hiding places, so as to not stand out. Once everyone was hidden, Pantherlily took off everything that he had on him and, once the coast was clear, ran across the street to the house on all fours, as if he were a regular cat.

Reaching the house, he hopped up onto the ledge in front of a window that didn't have the curtains pulled all the way. Looking inside, the black-furred exceed saw what Lincoln had seen earlier. Pantherlily recognized the drugs right away, but he was mildly startled when the window he was in front of opened, knocking him to the ground in front of the window. Leaning out of the window was Tomo, an annoyed look on her face.

"Stupid cat!" the woman snapped at Pantherlily, "Get out of here!" Acting flawlessly like a regular cat that had been frightened, Pantherlily meowed loudly as he ran back across the street on all fours, jumping into a bush to hide. Tomo, still fuming out of annoyance because of that cat she had shooed off, merely closed the window back up, then drew the curtains over fully. With the cat gone, Tomo proceeded to go about her business, as if nothing was up.

But what the woman was not aware of was the fact that the cat she had scared off was Pantherlily who, after jumping into the bush that he and Gajeel were hiding in, proceeded to tell the Iron Dragon Slayer that there were indeed illegal narcotics at Tomo's house. "Not only that," said the black-furred exceed as he was tying his belt back up to keep his green pants from falling down, "But that bitch who shooed me away matches the basic description that we got of that 'Powder' woman we have to keep an eye out for."

"Son of a bitch," Gajeel muttered under his breath, "Alright, then. Pantherlily, go find Salamander and his cat. The kid should be with them. After you and Salamander's cat get the kid out of here, the others and I will go in for the roundup. Can I count on the two of you to keep the kid safe?"

Giving his Dragon Slayer partner a salute, Pantherlily replied, "You can count on me, Gajeel." The black-furred exceed proceeded to go to where Lincoln was hiding with Natsu and Happy. After he gave the three of them the rundown, Pantherlily and Happy both sprouted their white feathery wings before each of them grabbed ahold of one of Lincoln's arms. After that, they took off into the air, making a beeline for the Loud residence.

The last thing Lincoln saw before he and the exceeds were out of that part of the neighborhood was Natsu, Gray, Gajeel and Erza all making a run for Tomo's house.

* * *

About an hour after Happy and Pantherlily returned Lincoln to his family's house before flying right back to help the mages, the white-haired boy and his sisters were all in their family's living room as they watched the local news, which currently had a field reporter who was on the scene of a breaking news report.

"Tom, I'm standing outside of a house here in the residential area of Royal Woods," the news reporter began, "As local resident Tomo Ashida is being arrested in connection to a drug ring operating in the Royal Woods area, with said drug ring reaching as far as areas such as Magnolia Town, Konohagakure and San Francisco, whose suburban areas such as New Domino City have been hit especially hard by the drug ring. Mrs. Ashida is also being charged with possession of illegal drugs, and Mrs. Ashida's six-year-old daughter Kimi is being removed from her custody. From what I have been told on the matter, the girl will be handed over to her grandparents, who are in their late fifties. We now go live to one of the folks from the Magnolia Town area who assisted in the drug bust and sub sequent arrest of Mrs. Ashida."

The news then shifted to a live interview with Gajeel. Scoffing in a disgusted tone, Gajeel said, "As my companions and I had discovered, the woman was able to get away with selling the drugs to her customer base in broad daylight by hiding the drugs in boxes of Bluebell Scout cookies that she helped her unknowing daughter sell during a recent cookie selling fundraiser." Holding a hand over his chest so that just the tips of his fingers and thumb touched his chest, Gajeel continued, "Since I am a parent myself, I am nothing short of revolted by how that girl was used by her own mother."

The news then cut back to the live field reporter, but that didn't really matter as Luna lowered the volume on the news a bit. With the volume on the news lowered, the twins turned to face the rest of the Loud siblings. "I can't believe that Kimi's mom is getting arrested," Lola remarked, her tone sounding like she had the wind knocked out of her sails.

"What I can't believe is that Kimi's mom hid bad drugs in the boxes of Bluebell Scout cookies that Kimi sold in the recent fundraiser," Lana remarked, her tone similar to that of Lola's, "It's, like, cheating, or something."

Seeing that his younger sisters were upset, having been hit hard by revelations that no one should have to ever be hit by, Lincoln walked up to them and grabbed them both into a reassuring hug. "What I want the two of you to know is that none of this is your friend's fault," Lincoln began, "Nor do either of you two have anything to do with it. What your friend's mom had done was a very bad thing, but you shouldn't let that affect you in any way." Letting the twins out of the hug, the sole Loud boy looked at both of them as he said, "Alright, girls?"

Both Lola and Lana nodded once in the affirmative, before they proceeded to wrap their arms around their brother to return the hug. As the twins hugged their older brother, the front door of the Loud residence opened, and in walked the mages, with Happy and Pantherlily flying in after Natsu and Gajeel. "Well our business with the local police had taken longer than what we were anticipating," Erza remarked as she and her companioned entered the house, getting the Loud siblings to all turn and face them, "But I believe that we have been able to complete our quest either way."

"I take it that you guys will literally be leaving soon?" Lori asked.

With a shrug, Erza said, "Actually, the boys and I have a bit of time to spare. I figure that we could take the chance to see the sights here. Do the whole tourist thing and whatnot."

"We also have to pay you guys back for letting us crash here while we were working on completing our quest to stop the drug ring," Gray remarked, "Our client is sending our pay for the completed quest straight to us, so it's going to come in the form of jewels instead of the local currency here." With a curious look on his face, Gray asked, "I don't suppose any of you might know where the guys here and I can get some jewels converted into the local currency, do you?"

"I know a place that can handle the converting of a foreign currency into the American dollar," Lisa said as she raised a hand.

"And you guys are going to, like, totes love the local mall!" Leni remarked, a hint of excitement in the fashionista's voice.

Holding up a hand, Erza asked, "Does this mall you speak of function like the malls over in Fiore, where a bunch of smaller stores are in one big building?"

Nodding once in the affirmative, Leni said, "Yep, that's a mall, alright!"

"Then I don't suppose that your local mall has a store that sells things such as cakes and other baked confections?" Erza asked.

"I'd go for a place where I can sink my teeth into some meat," Natsu remarked.

"I'd like some scrap iron," Gajeel said as he held up a hand, drawing a number of confused looks out of the Loud siblings.

Seeing the looks on the Loud siblings' respective faces, Pantherlily explained, "Gajeel is able to eat iron, along with various other forms of metal, the same way a normal person can eat a cookie. It is part of him being an Iron Dragon Slayer mage."

"Natsu can also eat fire the same way Gajeel can eat iron," Happy added, "Since Natsu is a Fire Dragon Slayer mage."

The Loud siblings all had a group huddle, where they convers amongst themselves for a bit before breaking, with Lori speaking for the group. "…Leni, Luna and I can take you guys to the mall," the oldest Loud sibling said, talking in a tone that suggested that she didn't want to bother questioning anything, "We can also send Lana and Lynn to go procure some scrap iron, and we can also start up a campfire if you'd like."

"Well alright!" Natsu cheered as he clapped his hands together, "Now we're cooking!"

"We are?" Leni asked, a confused look on her face as she looked around, "But we aren't even in the kitchen."

Sighing in a tone showing that sounded like she had long since given up, Lori said, "Leni, just smile and nod."

* * *

Sometime the following day, Lincoln was hanging out with his friends Clyde, Rusty, Zach and Liam, telling them about the mages that had helped out over the last couple of days. "Yeah, my dads and I saw that report on the news, man," Clyde said after Lincoln had finished a story, "I still can't believe that a drug distribution ring was not only operating in Royal Woods, but that it was operating so close to where a lot of us live."

"Not a very reassuring thing, let me tell you," Zach remarked in a tone of agreement.

"Totally," Rusty said. With a look of realization on his face, the older Spokes brother said, "Oh, Lincoln, before I forget, I need to ask you something."

Lincoln, a mildly curious look on his face, replied, "What is it, Rusty?"

"That sister of yours who is sweet on my little brother," Rusty began, "You know, the goth? Is she an actual witch?"

"…What makes you say that?" Lincoln asked, confusion replacing the curiosity in the expression that he wore.

With a hand on his hip, Rusty said while casually gesturing with his other hand, "Because last night, when your sister and Argent Ace were over hanging out with Rocky, your sister had this pen that allowed her to write glowing words that floated in the air. She then did something to turn the clothes she was wearing green before changing them back to her usual black."

"I knew it!" Liam declared, sounding like a person whose suspicions have just been confirmed, "I knew it this whole time! Lincoln dark little sister is a witch!"

Sighing in a mildly exasperated tone, Lincoln said, "No, you guys, no. Lucy is not a witch. She was probably showing Rocky and Argent some of the Magic Items that she got." While Lincoln was about to explain to his friends that the mages were kind enough to give some Magic Items to Lucy, Lola and Lana both came into the back yard. Following them was their friend Kimi, from the Bluebell Scouts.

"Hey Lincoln," Lola began, "Kimi and I are going to play Tea Party, and we even convinced Lana to play with us." Pointing to her older brother, the pageant-winning Loud sister added, "We need you and your friends here to be our butlers." The tone that Lola used sounded like she wasn't giving the older boys much of a choice in the matter.

"Now isn't exactly a good time, girls," Lincoln replied a bit dryly. Noticing that Kimi was with the twins, Lincoln said, "Hey, you're Lola and Lana's friend, right?"

Nodding once in the affirmative, Kimi said, "Mmm-hmm. Lola and Lana invited me over to play with them." With a bit of guilt creeping into her expression, Kimi said, "I still feel really bad that I sold the most boxes of cookies because my mom did something really bad."

"Kimi, you had no idea about what your mom was doing," Lincoln said to Kimi in a reassuring tone with a hint of firmness in it, "You cannot be faulted for the way that you were used. Do I make myself clear?" Kimi merely nodded once, showing that she understood what the white-haired boy was saying.

"…Now then," Lincoln continued, "I believe my sisters want you to play with them." To the three six-year-old girls, Lincoln said, "Why don't the three of you run along now? My friends and I are still busy."

"But we need butlers for the tea party!" Lola insisted.

Shrugging, Liam said to the pageant-winning Loud sister, "Why don't you get your witch sister to conjure some butlers with her magic that she apparently has?"

Sighing once again in an exasperated tone, Lincoln said, "For the last time, Liam, my sister Lucy is NOT a witch."

"I don't know, dude," Rusty remarked, "She is pretty spooky, that dark little sister of yours." As Lincoln tried to explain that Lucy was not a witch (although he did admit to the part that she was a bit on the spooky side) to his friends, Natsu came into the backyard with Happy. The two of them made a beeline for the sole Loud boy.

"Hey, kid," Natsu greeted in a friendly tone, "My friends and I were about to head on back to Magnolia Town now, so we just wanted to say our good-byes to you and your folks, as well as to say thanks again for letting us crash here while we were on our quest to bust the drug ring."

Nodding once in acknowledgement, the white-haired boy said, "No problem, sir." Gesturing to his red-haired friends, Lincoln continued, "I was just explaining to my friends Liam and Rusty here that my young sister Lucy is NOT a witch."

"Lucy?" Natsu repeated in a curious tone.

"You know my little sister who likes dressing entirely in black?" Lincoln began to explain to the Fire Dragon Slayer, "The girl that you and your friends gave all of those Magic Items to? Her name is Lucy."

"Ha!" Natsu said with an amused laugh, "Well what do you know? Your little sister that you're talking about has the same name as a friend of mine back in Magnolia Town!" Natsu then pulled out a photo and showed it to the kids. The photo had three girls that looked roughly the same age as Natsu; the first girl had long yellow-blonde hair, the second girl had azure blue hair, and the third girl, who was somewhat shorter than the other two girls, had shoulder-length blue hair. The third girl stood in the middle, with the blond girl on her right and the other blue-haired girl on her left. The girl in the middle was also cradling a baby.

Pointing to the blonde girl in the photo, Natsu said to the kids, "That's my friend Lucy. The girl on the other far end is Juvia, and the somewhat shorter girl in the middle is Levy."

"The baby that Levy is holding is her and Gajeel's son, by the way," Happy remarked, "He was born a few days before Gajeel and the rest of us came here for our quest."

"OH MY GOODNESS THE BABY IS ADORABLE!" Lola exclaimed excitedly as she, Lana and Kimi all crowded around Natsu to see the very recently born baby in said photo, drawing a bit of amused laughter out of Natsu and Happy, as well and Lincoln and his friends who stood by watching the scene unfold. Seeing the twins and their friend from the Bluebell Scouts getting along so well, despite all that had happened over the last couple of days, put a smile on the sole Loud boy's face.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Author's note:

Well, that will just about do it for the time Lincoln spends in this story helping out the twins specifically. Sure, Lincoln didn't get to do much to avenge the wrong that was dealt to the twins, but then again it wasn't much of a wrong, seeing as how all that happened was Lola and Lana losing a competition to sell the most boxes of cookies to that Kimi girl. And even with the reveal of _how_ Kimi sold so many boxes, she can't honestly be held accountable given that she had no idea what was her mother was up to. Even so, Lincoln was still able to contribute to stopping a major wrong from continuing. I think that now is as good of a time as any to cut losses and just let the twin and Kimi play tea party, during which Kimi will give the twins the special prize that she won in the cookie selling competition (given _how_ she won that prize, I would like to think that Kimi just wants to be honest, at least more so than her mother).

Anyway, at this point, the only sisters who Lincoln has not yet done anything significant with are Leni and Lily. I'm going to be doing Leni next, given that there isn't a reasonable amount of things Lincoln can do to help Lily that I can see myself stretch over multiple chapters; I'm also planning on doing something for the very tail end of this story as a whole. Yeah, I know, it's very similar to how I used Lily's arc back in 'Ten reasons'. But trust me, it's going to be loads less tragic. In fact, there will be a good few laughs.

What was I saying? …Oh yeah, Leni's arc is next. We'll be seeing the fashionista looking for some inspiration, and she decides to take her favorite brother (okay, he's her _only_ brother, but Leni is admittedly more fond of Lincoln than she is of some of her sisters) along for the search. Inspiration for what, you ask? For her latest dress she wants to make, of course. After all, this is Leni we're talking about, and she's got one goal in life.

…She's gotta dress 'em all.

Next time: Fighting Fashion

(As a side note, if any of you are curious as to what went on over where Natsu and the others live while Natsu and his team were in Royal Woods on their quest, you can find out in detail by checking out chapter six of 'Fairy Tail: Post Game'; the whole of the 'Tiara-cap scouts' arc takes place between the very first and very last scenes of the FT chapter in question. I should have it out either sometime very shortly before or very shortly after this chapter comes out.)

(As another side note, I'm probably going to update this story with entire arcs rather than just one chapter at a time until the story is straight up finished. I have the story complete already, with the remaining chapters in my back log. It's just a matter of getting it all out. I would have liked to space it out more, but with the holidays coming up, work IRL eating up a lot of time, and trying to get things caught up with my other works, I figured that it was best to just finish 'One reason' in bursts rather than in small increments.)


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter twenty-two: Fighting Fashion part one- The Fire-Crown Monkey

Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, was watching some TV in his family's living room one well enough morning. Lincoln, along with his younger sisters Lucy, Lisa and the twins Lola and Lana, were watching something on the news. The sole Loud boy sat in the middle on the sofa, with Lucy on his right and Lisa on his left; Lola sat on the floor in front of where Lisa sat, and Lana sat on the floor in front of where Lucy sat.

"…Leading to no less than two-hundred and seventy-eight thousand dollars' worth of property damage in the city's financial district," the news anchor said while the news showed a picture of a man who Lincoln thought looked suspiciously like Crow Hogan, Luna's friend who lives out in California; the only difference was that the man in the news had an awfully big and bushy black-colored handlebar moustache (there was a price tag attached to the moustache, BTW).

"And in local news here in Royal Woods," the news anchor said as he continued with the news, "The tenth annual Royal Woods youth fashion design contest is set for this Friday. Local fashion design talents from all over Royal Woods are expected to enter the contest, which will have a professional fashion designer from Paris, France in attendance as a special judge. There is going to be many categories, so prospective contestants are expected to look up the list of categories to decide what they want to design an outfit for. And now onto the weather. Tom?"

As the weatherman proceeded to give a forecast of the local weather, Leni came walking into the living room. Seeing many of her younger siblings watching the news, Leni said, "Hey, you guys! What are you, like, doing?" Having heard their fashionable older sister speak, Lincoln and his younger sisters all turned their attention to see her. It was Lana who decided to take initiative and greet Leni back.

"We're just watching the local news," Lana explained to Leni as she gestured to the TV, "I know it's weird that kids ranging from Lisa's age to Lincoln's age like watching the local news, given that a lot of people would expect kids to be keener on watching cartoons. But the local news has been way more interesting as of late." Turning back around to face the TV, the tomboyish Loud twin added, "Not to mention more entertaining."

"No, it's okay," Leni replied, "The news is, like, more educational and stuff. Not to mention it's a great way to help you keep up with current local events." With a look of sudden realization entering her expression, Leni said, "Oh! That totes reminds me!" Looking at the younger Loud siblings, Leni said, "Did any of you hear about the upcoming fashion show that hopeful local designers can enter?"

Giving his fashionable older sister a dry look with a hint of knowingness, Lincoln said, "Yeah, the news talked about it just before it shifted to the weather. I assume that you're going to want to enter the contest?"

Nodding enthusiastically in the affirmative, the fashionable Loud sister said, "An actual fashion designer from France will be a judge! There's, like, no way I'd miss such an opportunity to show off what I'm capable of!"

"Have you decided upon what you will be doing for the outfit you intend to enter?" Lisa asked as she looked up at her fashion-inclined older sister.

Sighing in a mildly resigned tone, Leni replied, "Unfortunately, I don't have anything made yet. And I'm lacking some serious inspiration." Tapping her right fist into her left hand while its palm was facing upwards, Leni continued, "I bet that all I need is to, like, see something really pretty or really awesome. That ought to get my creative juices flowing!"

"Oh, you want to see something epic for inspiration to help you design a new dress or outfit?" Lucy replied, "If that's the case, then I suggest that you go for a walk in the nearby woods so you can look for the Fire-Crown Monkey."

The other Loud siblings, upon hearing what their gothic sister had just said, all turned to look at her with looks ranging from curious to confused to a mix of both. "…The Fire-Crown Monkey?" Lola repeated, her tone carrying a hint of incredulousness, "Lucy, what the heck are you going on about this time?"

"Yesterday morning," Lucy said as she began to explain herself, "I went with Rocky and Argent for a walk in the nearby woods. Argent said that he was looking to capture some grasshoppers in the woods for his pet snake Jormungandr. After roughly forty-five minutes without finding even one grasshopper, it was me who first spotted the Fire-Crown Monkey." At that prompting, Lucy picked up her journal that she wrote all of her poems and various poetic syntax-inspired musings. Flipping the journal open, Lucy eventually came upon a page that had a drawing in it. She then showed this drawing to all of her siblings that were present.

The drawing, albeit a bit on the crude side, showed what Lucy wanted to talk about well enough. It depicted a bipedal primate-like creature that had long slightly round ears that had points at the ends, a long tail, swirling protrusions on its knees, the top of its hands and shoulders and over its pectorals. The most prominent feature of the drawing of the primate that Lucy had made in her journal was the billowing flame that was on the top of its head.

Pointing to the drawing in her journal, Lucy said to her siblings, "Rocky, Argent and I saw this creature while we were in the woods yesterday."

Scoffing incredulously, Lisa said, "There is no way that such a creature as the primate that you drew in your journal exists, my dark older sister. If it did, then I would have long since heard about it."

"I'm telling you, the Fire-Crown Monkey exists," Lucy said, her emotionless monotone carrying a hint of insisting. Turing to face Leni, Lucy said, "If you go for a walk in the woods to look for it, then I have no doubt that seeing the Fire-Crown Monkey will give you all the inspiration that you need to design your dress or outfit that you plan to enter in the upcoming fashion show."

"You really think so, Lucy?" Leni asked, a bit of hopefulness mixed into her curious and generally happy tone.

Nodding once in the affirmative, the gothic Loud sister replied, "If you want, you can even take my journal here with you, so that you know what to look for." Handing the journal over to her fashionable older sister, Lucy added, "Please just make sure not to lose it. Also, I wrote a few things in there that I would like to do with Rocky soon, so don't ever let him see it."

"Okay, got it," Leni replied as she received the journal from Lucy. As Leni was preparing to go up the stairs to her and Lori's room to get ready for her walk in the nearby woods, Lincoln got up off of the sofa.

"Hey Leni," the white-haired boy began, getting Leni and the younger Loud sisters to all look at him, "I don't suppose you would mind it too much if I tagged along with you, would you? I could use some fresh air, and the doctor at the hospital said that the more I exercise my injured left leg, the better it will be able to heal once I-"

Lincoln was cut off midsentence when Leni, surprisingly squealing a bit in excitement, ran up to Lincoln grabbed him up into a (somewhat admittedly crushing bear hug) as she twirled around in place. "Of course you can come, Linky!" Leni said, "I've always wanted to have an adventure with you! This is, like, the perfect chance to do that!"

After Leni placed Lincoln back down, she proceeded to go up the stairs. When Leni was gone, Lucy walked up to Lincoln and said, "It's actually a good thing you're going with Leni. You can keep an eye on my journal for her."

* * *

A short while later, both Lincoln and Leni could be seen walking through the woods located close to the residential area of Royal Woods. Leni even dressed up a bit for the little trek into the woods; she wore a white-colored pair of shorts just like the shorts Lori wore, a t-shirt that was seafoam green in color (the same color as Leni's usual dress), a visor cap the same color as the shirt that she wore, white shoes and a pair of white socks that reached half way up her shins. As for Lincoln, aside from a long-sleeved white shirt worn under an orange version of the green shirt that Bobby Santiago usually wears, his outfit remained the same. "So Linky," Leni began, "Where you think the Fire-Crown Monkey is living at in the woods?"

With an indifferent shrug, Lincoln replied in a dry tone, "Probably somewhere so that the fire on its head won't be too much of a hazard. I mean, if this monkey has an actual fire burning on its head, then it's rather liable to start a forest fire, even if it's on accident, don't you think?"

Leni, with a mildly shocked look on her face, turned to face her younger brother, who was going over the drawing of the Fire-Crown Monkey that was in Lucy's journal. "You mean like the forest fire that burned down the summer house that Sasha St. Clare's family had in the woods a while ago?" the fashionable loud sister asked.

"Eh, more or less," the white-haired boy replied as he looked up at Leni. Turning his attention back to the drawing in Lucy's journal, Lincoln continued, "Anyway, we ought to keep an eye out for anything that resembles this drawing in Lucy's journal. It would also be a good idea to look for signs that wildlife not native to these woods have passed by. Oh, since there's an open fire burning on the monkey's head, we ought to listen for the sounds of open fi-"

Lincoln was cut off when Leni took the journal from him suddenly. "I wanna see what the drawing looks like again," the fashionable Loud sister said, her innocent tone showing that she didn't realize that she had just been somewhat rude to her little brother just now.

"…You do know you could have just asked me to either show you the drawing or hand the journal over," the sole Loud boy remarked dryly.

Leni, with a hint of mischievousness in her expression, said with a bit of a giggle, "I also wanna see the stuff Lucy wrote in here about what she'd like to do with Rocky soon."

"It's nothing that I'm sure you'd find juicy or whatever," Lincoln replied, "Lucy just goes on about how she wants to hold hands with Rocky, and maybe be hugged by him."

"Ohh!" Leni said as if she had just found something good, "It says here that Lucy wishes that Rocky would kiss her on the lips!"

Giving Leni a dry look, Lincoln said, "You've kissed Aggro-sensei, Lori's kissed Bobby who knows how many times, Luna has kissed Sam, Luan's kissed Benny at least once, Lynn has kissed Ulfric, and I have kissed Ronnie Anne at least twice. And all of those had been on-the-lip kisses." Crossing his arms over his chest, Lincoln added, "It's nothing big." Receiving Lucy's journal back from Leni, the white-haired boy continued, "Anyway, can we continued looking for the Fire-Crown Monkey, assuming that it even-"

"Hey, it's that white-haired brat from Halloween!" a male voice, one that was horrifyingly familiar to Lincoln and Leni, called out, making Lincoln and Leni look over in the direction that the call came from. As such, the sole Loud boy and the fashionable Loud sister saw the punk teens Hawk and Hank come out from behind some trees. It had been Hank that had called out. Cracking his knuckles, Hank said, "It's been a while since Hawk and I have had some fun."

"Hey, you two leave Linky alone!" Leni scolded at the darker-skinned teen, moving to a position to stand between Lincoln and the punk teens, "And besides which, aren't the two of you supposed to be, like, in juvie hall or something? What are the two of you doing all the way out here in the woods?"

Surpassing a chuckle at the sight of Lincoln, who he saw as a wimp, being defended by a girl, Hawk said, "For your information, me and Hank and a few other of the guys being kept over at juvie were brought out here to be forced to do community service, mostly picking up litter and the like along a highway." It was then that Lincoln and Leni both noticed that the punk teens were both wearing bright orange vests with reflective yellow stripes on them.

Hawk and Hank proceeded to approach Lincoln and Leni in a threatening manner. "But I'm pretty sure the officers escorting me, Hank and the other juvie inmates wouldn't mind it if me and Hank had a little fun."

"Assuming that the two of you behave yourselves by keeping quiet," Hank added with a sneer, cracking his neck a bit.

Lincoln could tell right away that he was in a very bad position; he had been caught on a stroll through the woods by two guys who Lincoln had gotten arrested (not that Hawk and Hank _knew_ that Lincoln was the reason why they were caught and arrested). Lincoln, even when he was at his best, would have been torn a new one by just one of the two punk teens sauntering towards him now, but given the condition of his left leg, Lincoln had practically no options; he couldn't even run away fast enough to avoid Hawk and Hank capturing him.

To further highlight the plight that Lincoln found himself in, he only had Leni for company, and with all due respect, Leni isn't exactly the first person that the sole Loud boy would wish to have with him if Hawk and Hank ever showed up; sisters such as Lynn, Lori and Luna would have by far been more optimal candidates. But from the looks of things, Lincoln and Leni were stuck in the middle between a rock and a hard place.

"Any last words before the two of us rearrange your faces?" Hawk sneered in dark amusement as he and Hank were a few steps away. Leni was about to shout at the punk teens to go away, but she was cut off when she, the punk teens and Lincoln all heard a random male voice shout out.

"Chi-Chi, use Fire Punch on the boy with the crew cut!" the male voice called out, sounding like it belonged to a young teen around Luan's age, "Germany, use Dragon Claw on the boy with the darker skin and the hair over his eyes!" Before anyone could react, Hawk and Hank were both stuck from behind, being thrown back a good distance to the side, putting them safely away from Lincoln and Leni. Confused by what had just happened, Lincoln and Leni looked over to where the punk teen had formally been standing. When they did, Lincoln and Leni were very surprised by what they saw.

Standing there were two creatures that neither Loud sibling had seen before. The first creature greatly resembled the drawing of the Fire-Crown Monkey that was in Lucy's journal. Getting a closer look at it, the creature's swirling protrusions on its body were gold-colored, it had white fur on the area of its head, around its shins, and all over its body, the fur on its tail, arms, muzzle and thighs was reddish-brown, there was a red ridge over its eyes, and, true to what the drawing in Lucy's journal suggested, there was an active, billowing flame on top if its head.

The Fire-Crown Monkey's companion creature was a completely different story, however. It was a bipedal, draconic creature much taller than the Fire-Crown Monkey. It was mostly dark blue in color, although it did have a red underbelly, stretching from the lower jaw to its abdomen, with the red getting cut off by a golden-colored patch over the pelvic area. A similarly-colored star-shaped marking covered the second creature's nose area.

Horns that resembled the engines of jets came out of the sides of the second creature's head. The second creature had teeth that looked razor-sharp, three wide talons each on both of its feet, a single claw coming out of each of the second creature's arms, with the claws looking like they served as hands. Small spikes protruded from the second creature's arms and legs, and on the second creature's back was a single, large dorsal fin, which bore a single notch.

Both the first and second creatures snarled angrily at Hawk and Hank, suggesting that if the two punk teens tried to trouble Lincoln and Leni again, they would attack again. As Hawk and Hank both scrambled to get themselves back up, the male voice that called out earlier called out again to say, "Chi-Chi, Germany, go subdue them!"

Without warning, the first and second creatures charged right at Hawk and Hank respectively, pinning the punk teens down. Once Hawk and Hank were both subdued, a third youngish teen boy entered the scene, although it was clear he was by no means with or associated with Hawk and Hank. This new youngish teen boy had fair skin, long blonde hair, and he wore a red long-sleeved shirt (the sleeve ends hung loosely about the wrists) under a black men's tank-top, black cargo shorts (with red trim and threading), white socks, and a pair of red shoes that had black flame patterns on the sides.

Turning his attention to Lincoln and Leni upon noticing them, the teen boy said, "Apologies. Officer Schoffner and the other police officers keeping an eye on the teens from juvie sent out here to pick up trash lost track of those two." Pointing over to where the creatures had Hawk and Hank subdued, the teen boy continued, "I hope that Chi-Chi and Germany didn't give the two of you too much of a fright just now."

"Hey, it's the Fire-Crown Monkey that Lucy and her friends spotted!" Leni said as she pointed at the first creature.

The teen boy, with a curious look on his face, said, "Fire-Crown Monkey?" With an indifferent shrug, the teen boy added, "I suppose that's one way to describe an Infernape like Chi-Chi."

"Infernape?" Lincoln repeated in a confused tone, clearly lost on what the teen boy was talking about. Leni, ditzy as always, was likewise lost.

Pointing over to the first creature, the teen boy said, "Yeah, that's Chi-Chi. She's my Infernape." Pointing out the second creature, the teen boy continued, "And that right there is Germany. He's my Garchomp." Giving the two Loud siblings a dry look, the teen boy continued, "I'm going to assume that this is your first time ever encountering Pokémon."

Lincoln and Leni looked even more confused. "…The heck is a Pokémon?" Lincoln asked, but before he, Leni or the teen boy could say or do anything, a random cry sounded out from the sky, prompting the three of them to look up. What Lincoln and Leni saw surprised them, but the teen boy had a casual look on his face, a look that suggested that he was expecting whatever it was that had cried out.

Landing in the clearing where the two Louds siblings and the teen boy were in was another creature than neither Lincoln nor Leni had ever seen before, a creature that Lincoln was going to assume was another one of those 'Pokémon' that the teen boy was talking about. It was a white avian creature with a body that was mostly oval-shaped (this oval-shape included the area that was the creature's head).

It had small feet that were close to each other, broad wings that were mostly triangular, small triangle-shaped spots that were red and blue in color adorned its belly area (the spots had a great resemblance to confetti), its tail was short and consisted of three or so feathers, three spikes on the back of its head with the middle one full white while the far left had a blue tip and the far right had a red tip, its face was somewhat flat, and it had black, somewhat small eyes.

When this new creature landed, it hopped over to the teen boy and gave out a cry that sounded like a friendly greeting. As the teen boy gently petted this new creature's head, he said, "I see that Ailor had sent you to assist me in tracking down the two teen that had wandered off from their duties." Pointing out where his Infernape and Garchomp were keeping Hawk and Hank pinned, the teen boy said the new creature, "I already found them and have them captured. Can you go back to Ailor and the officers so you can lead them back here?"

"Is this another one of your…poke-a-man things?" Leni asked the teen boy while pointing at the newly arrived creature.

"Gypsy Danger is not my Togekiss," the teen boy replied, "He belongs to my older twin sister Ailor." With a mild look of realization on his face, the teen boy said, "Oh, I believe that I have forgotten to introduce myself." Holding a hand out to the two Loud siblings, the teen boy said, "My name is Zack Fisher." Focusing a bit on Leni, the teen boy, apparently named Zack, added, "By the way, it's pronounced 'Pokémon'."

After receiving another head ruffle from Zack, the creature he identified as being a Togekiss took up into the air and flew off. Seeing the Togekiss fly off, Zack remarked, "I was about to send out my Staraptor to go find Ailor and the officers and bring some of them here, but Ailor having brought Gypsy Danger with her will save me that trouble."

"Wait, I thought you said that this was called Togekiss," Lincoln began, getting Zack's attention.

Turning to regard the sole Loud boy, Zack remarked, "It is a Togekiss. Gypsy Danger is the nickname that Ailor gave him." Pointing to where his two Pokémon had Hawk and Hank pinned, Zack continued, "It's similar to how Chi-Chi and Germany are the nicknames of my Infernape and Garchomp respectively." Lincoln and Leni, still a little lost on what exactly was going on, both turned to face each other to exchange confused looks.

* * *

Later, after Hawk and Hank were rounded up by the officers keeping an eye on the juvie teens brought in to pick up trash and the like, Lincoln and Leni could be seen leaving the woods with Zack Fisher and a teen girl the same age as him, this being his older twin sister Ailor, the girl who owns that Pokémon that flew off earlier to retrieve assistance. This girl had fair skin and long, straight blonde hair, very similar to her twin brother.

Ailor wore a baggy long-sleeved white shirt (the sleeve ends hung loosely around the wrists, not cling tightly to them) under a green tank-top, white cargo shorts (that had green trim and threading) that reached her knees, white socks that reached halfway up her shins, and a pair of light green shoes. She had a backpack on her back; it was one of those single strap deals where the strap went across her body, from her left hip to her right shoulder.

Accompanying Ailor was another one of those Pokémon creatures that she and her twin brother kept. This Pokémon, who Ailor identified as her Empoleon Myde, was a fairly tall penguin-like creature that was mostly dark-blue in color; Myde had a wide yellow beak that extended up its face into three points, resembling a trident. A somewhat lighter blue, crown-shaped marking was over Myde's eyes, there was a white, lacy pattern running down his chest.

Blue, fin-shaped projections formed a sort of collar around Myde's throat before continuing downward over his chest and stomach, there was a third fin over Myde's rear which served as a tail, he had webbed, yellow feet, Myde's 'arms' were actually wide, penguin-like wings, with three yellow claws each that served as hands, and both wings were rimmed with sharp-looking linings that were slightly lighter in color than Myde's collar.

"So bro," Ailor began as she and her Empoleon followed behind Zack and his Infernape. Pointing to Lincoln and Leni, the female Fisher twin continued, "You met these two guys while tracking down those idiots who wandered off from the juvie trash pickup duty?"

"From what the white-haired boy said after the officers collected Hawk and Hank," Zack began to explain, "His older sister that's with him went on a walk in the woods looking for some amazing creature that she hoped would provide her with inspiration in designing a new outfit that she intends to enter into an upcoming fashion design contest of some sort. The boy came along to keep his older sister company."

Turning to look at the two Loud siblings, Ailor said, "What sort of amazing creature where you looking for?"

Pulling out Lucy's journal, Lincoln flipped it open to the page that had Lucy's drawing of the creature that ended up being revealed as an Infernape. "Me and Leni's younger sister Lucy saw this in the woods yesterday morning while she was exploring with her friends Rocky and Argent," the white-haired boy began to explain, "She called it the Fire-Crown Monkey, and said that Leni would probably get the inspiration she was looking for if she saw it."

Taking a quick look at the drawing, Ailor said, "…Huh, it looks like Zack's Infernape."

"Yeah, my guess is that those kids saw Chi-Chi yesterday somewhere near where we have our campsite set up in the woods," Zack remarked to his twin.

"You two are camping in the woods?" Leni asked, a curious hint in her tone.

Gesturing to Leni, Ailor said, "Well Zack and I don't exactly have any actual place to stay while we're here in the Royal Woods area taking care of some investigations."

"Investigations?" Lincoln repeated in a curious tone.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Zack explained, "Ailor and I actually live out in New Domino City, which is a suburb of San Francisco, California."

"Oh!" Leni exclaimed, "That's where me and Linky's sister Luna's friend Crow lives!"

"Yeah, Mr. Hogan is one of me and Zack's next-door neighbors," Ailor said, "We heard that he was out here a short while ago, and we just want to make sure he didn't do anything along the lines of the stuff he normally does at his place. There's also the matter of how a drug ring that started out here but reached as far as where Zack and I live was operating recently but had since been shut down."

Lincoln, with a look of realization on his face, said, "Oh! The mages that were here a short while ago put a stop to that drug ring."

Zack merely arched an eyebrow upon hearing Lincoln talk about mages. "…I would question what you said about mages just now if it wasn't for the fact that one of Ailor's Pokémon can literally warp the fabric of time, whereas one of mine can literally warp the fabric of space."

The sole Loud boy, a bit unsettled to hear that Ailor and Zack apparently own Pokémon capable of altering fundamental aspects of reality, and he was about to ask more about this. However, he found himself cut off by Leni before he could even get one word out. "You guys should, like, totes go pack up your camp stuff and come over to my family's place," the fashionable Loud girl said to the Fisher twins, "We'd be glad to let you stay with us!"

"Whoa, that's pretty generous of you," Ailor remarked to Leni. Similarly to how his trainer showed amazed appreciation, Myde waddled up to Leni and proceeded to gently nuzzle against the side of her head, with made Leni gush over Myde similarly to how she'd gush if a puppy was being similarly affectionate to her.

"Well my sisters, Linky here and I can tell you more about what you guys came here to look into," Leni explained. Gesturing to Chi-Chi, Leni continued, "Also, I did go to the woods to look for the Fire-Crown Monkey hoping that seeing her would give me the inspiration I needed to come up with a new outfit to enter the upcoming fashion show. Having her over at my family's place in person would be a great boon!" To the Fisher twins, Leni said, "In fact, if it's okay with you guys, I'd like to see all of your Pokémon guys, because who knows what I'll be able to come up with for the fashion show?"

With a hint of amused laughter in his tone, Zack said, "I guess that if both Ailor and I are okay with it, we'll take you up on the offer." Giving Leni a mildly firm look, the male Fisher twin added, "Just make sure that if you're using Chi-Chi here as a model for inspiring new clothing, do all of that work outside in your front or backyard. I wouldn't want the flame on her head to accidentally set anything inside of your family's house on fire."

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Author's note:

Ailor and Zack Fisher are actually characters that show up in 'After Hours', as the next-door neighbors of Crow and his roommates. The twins showing up here will be playing an important role later on down the line, but for the immediate future, they will be spending a few days in the Royal Woods area, lending their assistance to the Louds where and when needed; the fashion show that Leni intends to enter will be a more immediate instance of the Fisher twins helping out, although the other Loud sisters, with some of the younger sisters such as Lana and Lisa being especially keen, will also be interested in the various Pokémon that Ailor and Zack had brought with them.

The antagonist of this arc will also be popping up in the next chapter. Let's see what they will try to pull off against the Loud name.


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter twenty-three: Fighting Fashion part two- Triple-F (Five-Fingered Fashion)

Lincoln Loud was surprised to see his other sisters agree so readily to Leni's inviting Ailor and Zack Fisher, a pair of twin fourteen-year-olds, to stay at their family's place for the duration of the twins' stay in Royal Woods. It may have something to do with the fact that Ailor and Zack live next door to Luna's friend Crow and Crow's roommates over in California.

It may also have to do with the fact that one of the Fisher twins, that being Zack, had saved Lincoln and Leni during their stroll through the woods earlier; the white-haired boy and his fashionable older sister were confronted by the punk teens Hawk and Hank, both of which, along with a few other juvie residents, were being escorted by police to do work similar to picking up trash along the highway and what-not.

…It may also have to do with the fact that Ailor and Zack each own multiple interesting creatures that they say are called Pokémon. As a matter of fact, it was a Pokémon belonging to Zack, belonging to a species called Infernape, which was the reason why Leni wanted to go for a stroll through the woods; after being told about a mysterious creature called the 'Fire-Crown Monkey' by Lucy, Leni decided to go out and find it, in the hopes that seeing it would provide her with the inspiration she needed to design a new dress/outfit that she intends to enter in an upcoming fashion show.

Well Leni and Lincoln encountered the punk teens, said punk teens were soundly subdued by Zack and his Pokémon, the punk teens were taken away by police, and Zack, along with Ailor, both walked away with Lincoln and Leni; the two of them went to disassemble/pack up their camping stuff that they had set up in the woods after they got the invitation from Leni to crash at the Loud residence, and had shown up just a few minutes ago.

The Loud siblings, with the Fisher twins, stood in the Loud family's backyard. At Leni's prompting, Zack decided to show everyone his Infernape. He took a ball off of his belt, pressed a button on it to make it expand, then after that he tossed it up while saying with a hint of dryness in his tone, "Chi-Chi, we have some folks who want to say hello to you."

The ball that the male Fisher twin tossed up burst open, releasing a white burst of energy that took shape. When the light faded, Chi-Chi the Infernape stood before the Loud siblings. Looking around, the female Infernape spotted the Loud siblings, stared at them for a few seconds, and then let out a mildly confused sounding cry.

Pointing to Chi-Chi, Leni said, "See? The Fire-Crown Monkey is real!"

"I already knew it when Rocky, Argent and I spotted it in the woods previously," Lucy remarked while she faced her fashionable older sister. Turning to regard Zack's Pokémon, the gothic Loud sister continued, "But it's still a bit shocking to see the Fire-Crown Monkey up close."

Recalling Chi-Chi to her ball, Zack said to the loud siblings, "As I had explained it to your sister here and your brother, the proper name for Chi-Chi's species is Infernape."

"Bro, keep in mind that these guys don't have a damn clue about Pokémon or anything related to them," Ailor remarked in a casual tone, "They need time to learn." Turning to face the Loud siblings, Ailor continued, "Thanks again for putting my brother and I up. This'll beat camping in the woods by a long shot."

"Well I'm pretty sure Leni wants to use your respective…" Lincoln began, but stopped short to try and see if he had something right. "…Pokémon," the white-haired boy said, drawing nods in the affirmative out of both Fisher twins, then continued to say, "As inspiration for some clothing that she wants to make and enter in an upcoming fashion show. And I'm pretty sure that the rest of my sisters would like to see them as well."

The Fisher twins first looked around the Loud family's backyard for a bit. After a couple of seconds, Zack got Ailor's attention and said, "If you and I respectively keep Dyllen and Tsukune back for the time being, there should be enough room for the rest of our respective Pokémon."

Ailor nodded in agreement with her brother as both of them took five balls each off of their respective belts, expanded them all, and then tossed them all up, calling out a combined total of ten Pokémon. The first two of Zack's Pokémon were his Infernape, once again, as well as his Garchomp, the other Pokémon the male Fisher twin had used in order to subdue the escaped Hawk and Hank.

As for the first two of Ailor's Pokémon, they were her Empoleon and Togekiss. However, it was the other three Pokémon Zack had brought out, as well as the other three Pokémon that Ailor had brought out, that were completely new sights for all of the loud siblings, even Lincoln and Leni.

The first of Zack's other three Pokémon was clearly a predatory bird of some kind. It was mostly grayish-brown in color, although its beak was yellow with a black tip at the end. The predatory bird Pokémon had a circular white patch (which took up a fair bit of space) on its forehead, hiding under a red-tipped black crest that extended over its head. It had more white feathers that covered its throat and chest, though it was cut off by a black ruff covering the shoulders. Its wings, currently folded up, were large, its tail was made up of five red-tipped black feathers, and it had yellow feet that had black talons.

The second of Zack's Pokémon was some manner of bipedal being that resembled a humanoid rose bouquet. Its 'hair' consisted of white rose petals, a green leafy cape (fairly long), and some manner of gold-colored collar around its neck. This Pokémon had some darker green pattern over its eyes that resembled a mask of some sort, it had light green arms and legs, with the legs ending in yellow tips for feet, and the hands being bunches of flowers, one red and one blue.

Zack's third Pokémon was some manner of bipedal, canine-like creature with mostly blue and black fur. There were short spikes, one each, on the back of its hands (or paws; whichever one works better for you), as well as a third spike on its chest. Its chest, as well as the rest of its torso, was covered in a yellowish-cream colored fur. It had a tail that was the same blue as the other parts that were blue. It also had four black appendages that hung from the back of its head, going down the back. It was standing on its toes, rather than using the whole of both feet, and on its left forearm was a bracer of some kind; a stone of some kind was set into it.

The first of Ailor's newly seen Pokémon was large, vaguely humanoid in appearance, covered in red and yellow markings, and had a somewhat egg-shaped body. It had a dark-colored face and large lips. It had yellow, tube-like arms that each had three small claws at the ends, serving as the creature's 'hands'. Its thighs were pink, its shins black, and its feet red, with two white claws on each foot, serving as 'toes'. There was a flame on its head, one on each shoulder, and a fourth that served as a tail. There were also pink spikes on its back.

Ailor's second newly-seen Pokémon was similar in size to the first, but it was covered in yellow fur with black stripes. It had a black spot in the middle of its forehead, and two antennae coming out of the top of its head, with each antennae ending in a bulbous tip. The fur coming off of its cheeks and shoulders was spiky and a little ruffled, it had two long black tails that each ended in red tips, three clawed toes each on both of its black feet, and finally, it had five black fingers on each of its hands.

The third and final of Ailor's newly seen Pokémon was also notably big; it was covered in shaggy white fur, save for its hands, feet and tail which where green. There were longer tufts of white fur covering its pectorals, although they were fairly short. Out of curiosity, Leni decided to walk around to get a look at Ailor's third newly-seen Pokémon, and as such she saw that it had four green-colored spikes on its back; said spikes seemed to look like pinecones. After Leni had rejoined her siblings, she saw that Ailor's third newly-seen Pokémon was wearing some sort of chest plate/necklace, and that there was a stone of some kind set in the center of the plate.

"So yeah, there are the Pokémon that Zack and I respectively brought with us," Ailor remarked to the Loud siblings while gesturing to the Pokémon, "Other than Dyllen and Tsukune, of course. But then again there wouldn't be enough room in the backyard if those two came out as well."

"Wow, all of them look so cool!" Lana exclaimed in excitement, "What are they called?"

Ailor, with a bit of an amused chuckle, decided that she'd go first. "That there is Myde," Ailor began while gesturing to her Empoleon, "He's an Empoleon." Pointing out her Togekiss, followed respectively by her first, second and third newly-seen Pokémon, Ailor said, "That's Gypsy Danger my Togekiss, that's Mr. Popo my Magmortar, that's Fourze my Electivire, and that's Russia my Abomasnow." All five of Ailor's Pokémon that she had out gave friendly cries that sounded like they were saying hello to the Loud siblings.

"This is Chi-Chi, my Infernape," Zack said while gesturing to his Infernape, "But you guys have already met her." Pointing to his Garchomp, the male Fisher twin continued, "And for those of you who have not yet met him, this is Germany, my Garchomp." Pointing out his first, second and third newly-seen Pokémon in that order, Zack said, "That's Cyrus my Staraptor, that's Akiza my Roserade, and that's Leni my Lucario."

"Hey wait," Leni said with a confused look on her face while pointing to Zack's Lucario, "If that's Leni, then who am I?"

Sighing in a mildly annoyed tone, Lori said, "You're also Leni. Your name isn't exclusive."

The Fisher twins recalled all of their respective Pokémon, save for Gypsy Danger the Togekiss and Cyrus the Staraptor, both of which walked or hopped over to the Loud siblings to greet them up close. While the two flying Pokémon were being petted by some of the younger Loud sisters, everyone heard some meowing go out, prompting everyone to turn and see Cliff, the pet cat of the Loud family, slowly stalk over, his attention firmly on Cyrus.

Seeing that this basic animal was seeing him as if her were a simple canary, the predator Pokémon turned to face him, unfurled his wings, and held them out at his sides at length while slowly stalking around in a circle with cliff, cawing every so often. Some of the Loud sisters found this display to be amusing, but such sentiment was not shared by everyone. "Uhh, guys," Zack said to the Loud siblings, a hint of trepidation in his tone, "Please tell me that cat doesn't belong to any of you."

"Yeah, that's our cat Cliff," Lola remarked, "Why do you ask?"

"Because Cyrus _will_ kill your cat if you guys don't collect him away in time," Zack warned, still sounding worried, "It wouldn't be the first time that someone's house cat was stupid enough to think it could take on a predatory bird Pokémon like my Staraptor."

Alarmed by Zack's warning that his Pokémon would actually kill Cliff if they don't take him back from provoking it, the Loud siblings all scrambled to whisk their cat away. Seeing that the cat who was overconfident to the point of being suicidal was taken away, Cyrus visibly calmed down, ceasing his stalking around in a circle and folding his wings back up. The Staraptor gave a mildly bemused cry before he was recalled by Zack. Ailor likewise recalled Gypsy Danger.

"Yeah, word to the wise," Ailor said as she and Zack turned to face the Loud siblings, "Pokémon do NOT like having to deal with animals. AT ALL. There's a reason why animals can't be found in regions where Pokémon live." The male Fisher twin simply nodded in agreement with his older twin sister.

The Loud siblings all look at one another, with Lana saying, "We…ought to keep our pets in our rooms for the time being." All of her siblings nodded in agreement with her.

* * *

Later the following morning, Lincoln woke up in his room, left, went downstairs to the kitchen, and fixed himself up a bowl of cereal for breakfast. When he went from the kitchen to the dining room to sit down and eat, the sole Loud boy saw that the dining table had been pushed to the side. This is because Lincoln's sister Lynn, wearing a Lucha Libre get up, was currently trying to wrestle that big yellow Pokémon of Ailor's that the female Fisher twin identified as Electivire.

"Hey, Lynn," Lincoln called out, getting his athletic sister and Ailor's Electivire to stop and turn to face him. Giving Lynn a wry look, Lincoln asked, "What are you doing, and why do you think doing it in the dining room, during the time of morning where most of us get breakfast, would be a good idea?"

Pointing to Ailor's Electivire, Lynn replied while still facing her younger brother, "I'm wrestling Fourze here." The large yellow Pokémon nodded a few times enthusiastically in agreement.

Lincoln, with an expression that was a definition of dryness, replied, "Couldn't you take care of that in the backyard?"

Shrugging, Lynn replied, "Well I would have, but Leni moved her sewing machine table and a few other things out there so she could work on designing a dress based off of that monkey of Zack's that has a fire on her head." Once again, Fourze nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"Hmm," Lincoln remarked, "Well she was told to do it outside, due to that aforementioned fire on the head of that Pokémon." Lincoln decided to just go back into the kitchen, eat his cereal at a counter, put his dishes in the sink, and then go out into the backyard to see what Leni was up to with Zack's Infernape.

Upon entering the backyard, Lincoln saw Leni sitting on a stool at her sewing machine table, with Chi-Chi standing nearby. Usually crouched down, Chi-Chi stood more erect right now, with her left foot in front of her right, her left hand on her waist, and her right arm casually hanging at her side. Lincoln wondered if Leni had Chi-Chi take this pose intentionally, or if the Infernape had taken it on her own volition.

Sensing that someone had entered the backyard, Leni stopped sewing and looked up from her sewing machine. Seeing that Lincoln was standing there, the fashionable Loud sister waved him over. "Hey, Linky," Leni greeted, "I figured that I had plenty of time in the morning to make the dress that I'm going to enter in the upcoming fashion show, so I was, like, figuring why not take care of it now?" Gesturing to Chi-Chi, Leni continued, "That Zack kid was kind enough to let me borrow his Fire-Crown Monkey, so I can get a look at her every so often while I'm working on my new dress."

"Where are Zack and Ailor, by the way?" Lincoln asked, an eyebrow arched in curiosity.

With a shrug, Leni replied, "Sorry, Linky, but I don't have any clue." Looking like she was trying to give the matter some thought, Leni added, "…Although now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that Zack said that he and his sister had to take a surprise call that they got. It came from some lady that Ailor says is called Professor Magnolia."

"A professor?" the sole loud boy remarked, "I hope that this professor lady is not the same kind of scientist that Lisa is, with all due respect."

"Oh, no," Leni replied in an understanding tone, "Lisa's science stuff is, like, totes too hard for me to wrap my head around. And don't worry, Linky. Ailor said that this Professor Magnolia lady does research into Pokémon."

Lincoln nodded once in understanding, as well as a bit of amusement; so a professor who does research into Pokémon. It's no wonder that the Fisher twins, both of whom raise Pokémon themselves, would want to take that surprise call from Professor Magnolia. However, the white-haired boy's curiosity nagged at him to ask a pertinent question or two. "Did either of them say what this Professor Magnolia lady wanted to talk to them about?" Lincoln asked.

"I don't really remember," the fashionable loud sister replied, giving a gently shake of her head, "Although I'm totes sure we can ask them when they get back." Lincoln nodded in agreement with his older sister. There was always the fact that they could drill the Fisher twins for info on what that surprise call was about later. All that the sole Loud boy hoped was that the Fisher twins were free to share what they talked to Professor Magnolia about.

Looking at the setup that Leni had in the backyard, Lincoln remarked, "I see that you're taking this dress making deal very seriously, Leni."

"Well why wouldn't I, like, take it seriously?" Leni asked rhetorically, "Not only is this my big chance to show off what I can do, but one of the people I can show off to is from Paris! That's, like, the fashion capital of the world! If I can impress the designer from Paris well enough, who knows what doors that can totes open for me!"

The white-haired boy nodded in understanding, mildly surprised with how much thought and attention to detail his ditzy older sister had put into things here. If anyone deserved to win the upcoming fashion show and impress that designer from Paris, then it was Leni. And since the fashionable Loud sister had an ace up her sleeve in the form of being able to use the Fisher twins' Pokémon as models slash design inspirations, Lincoln felt that it was safe to say that Leni had this one in the bag.

"Well then, Leni," Lincoln said as he turned around to head back into the house, "I'll leave you to do your designing out here."

"See you later, Linky!" Leni replied as she saw her little brother go back into the house. Alone in the backyard save for Zack's Infernape, the fashionable loud sister went right back to work on designing the dress that she was going to enter into the upcoming fashion show.

* * *

The following afternoon, Lincoln went to the Royal Woods Mall with Leni; the fashionable Loud sister wanted to show some of her co-workers at the store she worked at, along with a few other friends, the dress that she had made, and wanted one of her siblings to be there for support. Lincoln was the only one who was available, so he was more or less dragged along, even though he was going to go with her willingly anyway.

As such, Lincoln found himself sitting at a table near Reininger's with Fiona, Jackie, Mandee and Miguel. "…So why can't Aggro come again?" Fiona asked, a hint of suspicion in her tone, "He does realize that his girlfriend is going to present something that she's put a lot of effort into making, doesn't he?"

"Leni…actually forgot to inform Aggro-sensei about what she's been up to in preparation for the upcoming fashion show," Lincoln replied, after realizing that Leni, despite the fact that she had remembered to tell her all of her friends, forgot to tell the _guy she was in love with and currently dating_ about what she was going to do. Thinking quickly, the white-haired boy said to all of Leni's friends as a whole, "Everyone, please don't remind Leni about how she forgot to invite Aggro-sensei out to see the dress that she's going to show to us."

"You can count on us, chief," Mandee replied with a playful salute, the sentiment of which was shared by the rest of Leni's friends as they all swore that they would keep the fact that Leni had forgotten to invite her boyfriend out to see her new dress.

After the agreement had been made, Lincoln, as well as Leni's friends, heard Leni call out to them, "I'm ready! So what do you guys think?" Having heard the ditzy fashionista, the group as a whole all turned to face the direction they heard Leni's voice in. When they did, they were all surprised with what they saw.

Leni wore a sleeveless dress that was white from the waist up and reddish-brown from the waist down until about halfway down the shins, where it resumed being white that flared up into the reddish brown (the white that covered the torso also flared down a little into the reddish brown). Accompanying the dress were silken dress gloves the same reddish brown as the part on the dress; the fingers of the gloves were a sort of dark bluish color. Additionally, there were golden swirls on the parts of the gloves that covered the top of the hands; there were also golden swirls covering the shoulders, as well as one golden swirl each covering the area of the dress that went over Leni's breasts.

Twirling around in place a bit, Leni said when she stopped and faced the group, "So, what do you guys, like, think about the dress I made for the fashion show tomorrow?"

"I've never seen anything like it," Jackie remarked, sounding and looking very much impressed with her fashionable friend's work.

Nodding in agreement, Miguel remarked, "I bet my mother would like a dress just like it." With a hint of embarrassment, Miguel added, "I can pay you to make a dress that looks like that, but for someone who is more plus-sized?"

"What I really like are those gloves," Fiona said as she took out her smartphone to film a short video clip of Leni wearing the dress, "If I can just get gloves like those, then I would be set."

"I bet that, if he knew that you would wear something awesome like this, that your boyfriend would regret not being here to see it," Jackie commented.

Gasping in shock, Leni exclaimed, "Oh my god, you're right Jackie! I totes forgot to invite Aggro here to see me show off my new dress!"

Leni's other friends and Lincoln all turned to face Jackie with accusatory glares. "I forgot, okay?!" Jackie exclaimed in embarrassment. While the teens and Lincoln were all in that part of the mall, they were approached by Ms. Carmichael, the manager of Reininger's and the boss of Leni, Fiona and Miguel.

"Oh, well this is interesting, seeing you guys hanging together off work," Ms. Carmichael remarked in a casual, mildly amused tone, getting her three employees to turn to see her, "It's nice to-" The red-haired woman stopped short upon seeing the dress that Leni was wearing. "What did I say about wearing dresses from other stores while you work at Reininger's, Leni?" Ms. Carmichael began, her tone accusatory.

"She didn't buy that dress at any store, Ms. Carmichael," Fiona explained, "She actually made that dress herself."

Nodding in the affirmative, Leni said, "She's right, ma'am. I'm planning to enter the fashion show tomorrow where people can enter clothing they designed themselves." Gesturing to the dress that she wore, the fashionable Loud sister said, "I plan to enter this dress."

Ms. Carmichael was taken aback somewhat; not only did one of her own employees make a dress of their own, but the red-haired woman had to admit that it looked simply fantastic. She did not recall ever seeing anything of such appeal in any store. Ms. Carmichael collected herself quickly, though. "I…see," the Reininger's manager remarked, "Sorry for once again for jumping to conclusions, Leni."

"No problem, Ms. Carmichael," Leni replied, easily forgiving her manager.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Ms. Carmichael said, "I'm also a bit surprised, if I'm to be honest." Seeing the mildly curious looks on the faces of the teens and Lincoln, the red-haired woman continued, "You see, kids, I'm actually planning to enter that fashion show myself, with a work of my own creation."

"Wait a minute, Ms. Carmichael," Miguel began, "Does that mean that you're going to be going up against Leni?"

Nodding once, Ms. Carmichael said, "It would seem to be the case, young man." Turning around to leave, the Reininger's manager turned her head partly around to regard Leni. "I guess that the next time we'll meet, Leni," Ms. Carmichael remarked, "It will be as rivals competing against each other in the fashion show tomorrow. Good luck to you, young lady." The red-haired woman then took her leave, leaving the teens and Lincoln alone.

Turning to face her friends and Lincoln, Leni had a look of concerned worry on her face. "Geez, I didn't know that I would be having to face Ms. Carmichael in the fashion show tomorrow," the ditzy Loud sister remarked, "This might be, like, bad, you guys."

"I wouldn't worry," Fiona remarked casually with an indifferent shrug, "I've actually seen some of the stuff that Ms. Carmichael has made before, and I can assure you that her talent for making clothing is nowhere near as good as yours, Leni."

"Your friend's got a point, Leni," Lincoln said as he looked up at his older sister, "There is, as Lori would say, literally no need to worry. I have every confidence that you will not only blow away your boss, but everyone else you're going to compete against in the fashion show." All of Leni's friends cheered for the fashionable Loud sister, showing that they agreed with the white-haired boy wholeheartedly.

Leni could not help but smile. "Aww, thanks, you guys," Leni replied, touched by the support that all of her friends, as well as her little brother, all had for her. Nodding once in appreciation, Leni continued, "Anyway, I need to go and take my dress off, put it away and get back into my normal clothes. I have to make sure this dress says as nice and presentable as possible before the big show tomorrow."

Lincoln and the teens all understood and waved Leni off as she went back to where she changed into her dress that she would be showing off at the fashion show tomorrow. After a few minutes of waiting, Leni came back, wearing her usual getup. Prepared to hang out with her friends, Leni asked the group as a whole if any of them had anything in mind. Fiona said that she wanted to go to the food court because the grill restaurant there had this new teriyaki chicken kebob that she wanted to try. Everyone else agreed that some lunch sounded pretty good, Leni included, to the five teens and Lincoln all went to the food court.

* * *

The following evening at an auditorium, Lincoln and his sisters, aside from Leni, were in the audience. Rita, their mother, was also there, sitting with her children in the audience; Lynn Sr. was unable to come to the event, as he was busy with some manner of work elsewhere. But the Fisher twins were able to come to the fashion show; Ailor and Zack sat behind where the Louds sat in the audience.

"I'm totally going to call it," Ailor remarked to the Loud siblings, a look of assured confidence on her face, "That sister of yours is going to win with that Infernape dress that she made."

Pointing to his twin, Zack explained to the Loud siblings, "Ailor has taken to calling the dress that your sister made for the fashion show the Infernape dress, given that its design was inspired by my Infernape."

"That makes sense," Lincoln replied, nodding in agreement with the logic in Ailor's reasoning. As the Louds sat with the Fisher twins, Leni came walking up to where they were sitting. She was in her regular getup, and the near-teary eyed look on her face clearly denoted that she was on the verge of a total freak out.

"Guys, have any of you, like, seen the dress that I made?" Leni asked.

Face palming, Luna said, "Leni, please don't tell us that you forgot the dress that you made for the show back at the house."

"No, your sister didn't forget the Infernape dress," Ailor confirmed, getting the other Loud siblings and Rita to all turn and face her, "In fact, I saw her take it into the dressing room the contest organizers provided her with. All of the contestants in this fashion show were each provided with their own dressing room, so that they could change into whatever they had made so they could show it off in the fashion show."

With a curious look on her face, Luna said, "Then if that's the case, what could have happened to the dress that Leni made?" Before any further inquiries could be made, the judges for the fashion show called out to the audience.

"Alright, everyone," the first judge began, "We are ready to begin the fashion show! For our first contestant, we have Ms. Carmichael, a local woman who runs a clothing store over in Royal Woods Mall!" the audience cheered as Ms. Carmichael came out to walk on the catwalk, but the Fisher twins and the Louds, Leni especially, were shocked with what they were seeing.

Ms. Carmichael was wearing the dress that Leni had made.

"What the hell is that woman doing with the Infernape dress?" Ailor nearly exclaimed. To the Loud siblings, the female Fisher twin continued, "There's no way that she should have it unless she either stole the design from your sister then made a copy of the dress, or she straight up stole the dress from the changing room that was provided to your sister!"

"Given how long it took Leni to make the original dress," Lisa began, "As well as the fact that Leni's dress, which you confirmed Leni did not forget at home and in fact took it into her dressing room, I believe that the theory about Ms. Carmichael stealing the dress from Leni's changing room while Leni wasn't there holds more weight."

Leni, with a sad, defeated look on her face, said, "I, like, can't believe it. My own boss stole the dress I made and wore it in the fashion show."

"I say you let me have a few rounds with her," Lynn offered, pounding a fist into her hand, "Let me get a confession out of her."

"No, no," Ailor interrupted, "Let me have Fourze do that instead. An Electivire's fists are way bigger than a thirteen-year-old human girl's fists, not to mention there's a lot more physical power going into each punch, which by the way can be electrified."

Getting everyone to calm down, Zack said, "We are not resorting to violence here, people. A force-coerced confession will not only be dismissed by the appropriate authorities, but it will get us in trouble. What we need to do is investigate this matter as subtly as possible. I'm certain that if we submit our concerns about that woman stealing your sister's dress, we can take a look at any footage that the security cameras around here had taken. They would be bound to catch that woman red-handed."

"There is literally a problem with that, Zack," Lori began to point out, "There are no security cameras in the hallway where all of the changing rooms are located, and there are likewise no cameras in any of the changing rooms. I know because when I went with Leni to her changing room before the show started, I noticed the lack of security cameras, and when I asked a guard about it, he confirmed that there are no cameras due to fears of female voyeurs using video feeds in a security room to get away with spying on guys changing."

Luan, with a confused look, asked, "Don't you mean there are no cameras to keep _guys_ from spying on changing _girls_?"

Gently shaking her head, Lori said, "No, the guard literally said that there used to be cameras until a female guard that has since been fired used video feeds to spy on guys that were changing in the changing rooms. Granted, keeping guys from spying on changing girls is also a nice added bonus, but the cameras were originally taken down because of a girl that was using them to spy on guys that were changing."

"Well either way, we just lost out on a big chance to get evidence to prove that Leni's boss stole the dress that Leni had made," Luna remarked. As she, as well as most of the other Louds (Leni especially), slumped in defeat, Zack spoke up with an idea.

"…I think I got something," Zack said.

* * *

Due to lacking a dress to enter, Leni sadly had to drop out of the fashion show. To further rub salt into the fashionable Loud sister's wound, Ms. Carmichael ended up winning the fashion show. The red-haired woman, having changed back into her regular outfit, walked out of her changing room, a bag in one hand and a trophy carried in her other arm. As Ms. Carmichael walked in the hallway, she was surprised when a blue and black bipedal canine creature with a cream-colored torso came running up to her.

The red-haired woman was startled, and was similarly nervous when the creature started sniffing at her, as if it were a friendly and curious dog. After a few seconds, a young male voice called out, "Sorry, ma'am! My Lucario wandered off before I could stop her!" Ms. Carmichael then saw a young teen boy, who she estimated to be fourteen, come running up to her and the bipedal creature. The boy was actually Zack, but Ms. Carmichael did not know who he was.

Zack placed his hand on his creature's head, getting her to stop. "I'm really sorry," Zack said, "But rest assured that my Lucario is friendly. It would never cross her mind to attack anyone."

"Y-your pet here certainly looks…" Ms. Carmichael began, "…Interesting." To the red-haired woman's confusion, four appendages on the back of the head of Zack's Lucario proceeded to lift up on their own, surrounded by a faint blue energy of some manner. "…What is that supposed to be?" Ms. Carmichael asked Zack, pointing to what his Lucario was doing.

Seeing what his Lucario was doing, Zack said in a casually dismissive tone, "Oh, that. It's just something that she does sometimes. It comes with her being a Lucario. It's nothing that you have to be worried about." The appendages then fell back down, their fain blue energy gone. Taking Zack's word for it, Ms. Carmichael took her leave, doing so in a way that made it so that the red-haired woman never saw Lincoln and Leni walk over to join Zack.

Turning to face Zack, his Lucario looked up at him as her head appendages started to lift up and glow again. Zack's eyes flashed briefly in a color similar to the aura that surrounded the head appendages his Lucario had. The glowing only lasted a few seconds, after which it faded. "Well that settles that," Zack remarked to his Lucario, "Sorry you had to read that, Leni."

"I'm Leni," the fashionable Loud sister said, a look of confusion on her face.

"My Lucario is _also_ named Leni," the male Fisher twin said, "But that's beside the point." To the Loud siblings that were there, Zack said while pointing to his Lucario, "Leni here was able to confirm that your sister's boss did, in fact, steal the dress your sister made."

Now sounding more annoyed and angry with her boss, Leni scoffed, "I, like, can't believe that Ms. Carmichael would do this to me!"

"Hang on, Zack," Lincoln began, a mildly confused and curious look on her face, "How was your Lucario able to find out what Ms. Carmichael did so easily?"

"As a species," Zack began to explain, "Lucario are able to manipulate a kind of energy called aura. By manipulating aura, Lucario are able to do all manner of things. A common ability is that Lucario can use aura to read the feelings of others, often to the point that it's straight-up mind reading. Lucario tend not to use this power too often as they usually end up reading things that they would much rather not know."

Pointing to Zack, Lincoln asked, "How about when your eyes glowed?"

"That was Leni," Zack began, "My Lucario and not your sister, sharing what she had read from your sister's boss's mind with me." With a shrug, Zack said, "Aura is a pretty amazing thing."

Sighing, Lincoln said, "So now we know that Leni's boss stole her dress." Crossing his arms over his chest, the white-haired boy asked, "How do we prove it, though?"

With a wry look of mild amusement on his face, the male Fisher twin said, "I have something in mind that, provided that our luck holds, will prove to the proper authorities that your sister's boss is a total thief."

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Author's note:

Yay, part two of three is over. Now I can brainstorm how to set up the third and final part of Lincoln's time with Leni. Anyway, for those among you who are more familiar with Pokémon than the rest, then perhaps you caught mention of the professor that Leni mentioned had some surprise call with the Fisher twins earlier in this chapter. That will come to light next time, rest assured.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter twenty-four: Fighting Fashion part three- Space and Time

Very recently, there was a fashion show held in Royal Woods, where local talents in the ways of designing their own clothes could make something to show off. Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, saw his older sister Leni enter that very contest. Things were looking rather good for the fashionable Loud sister by all accounts, especially since the Loud family was playing host to a pair of fourteen-year-olds who live next door to Luna's friend who lives out all the way in California.

The reason why these fourteen-year-olds were such a help to Leni is because both of them are Pokémon trainers; the boy of the pair, Zack Fisher, allowed Leni the use of one of his Pokémon, an Infernape, as the inspiration for the dress that she would enter in the aforementioned fashion show. The dress that the ditzy sixteen-year-old was very remarkable, and it was, by all accounts, Leni's ticket to winning the fashion show. Sure enough, the 'Infernape dress', as it had been dubbed by Zack's older twin sister Ailor, went on to win the fashion show. However, there was one slight problem in all of this mess.

Leni wasn't the one who won the fashion show.

Ms. Carmichael, Leni's boss at Reiningan's, which is a store in Royal Woods Mall, had also entered the fashion show, and showed off a dress that looked identical to the dress that Leni had made. Zack, using the assistance of his Lucario, was able to confirm that Ms. Carmichael had in fact stolen the dress Leni made from the dressing room that was provided to the fashionable Loud sister, while no one was looking. Without anything to enter in the fashion show, Leni was forced to drop out, causing her no small amount of grief.

But not all was lost, despite what Leni was thinking. The Fisher twins, both of which were just as upset with what Leni's boss at Reiningan's had done as Leni's siblings, decided that they would lend their assistance on this matter. Unfortunately, the other Loud sisters were all occupied going about trying to set up various schemes that, from what Lincoln saw, none of which would end up working. Even Lisa, the certified genius among the Loud siblings, had no idea that her plan to get back at the wrong that had been dealt to Leni was doomed to fail.

It is for that reason, among a few others, that plans among the Loud siblings are usually best left to 'the man with the plan'.

"So Ailor, Zack," Lincoln began as he had a private talk with the Fisher twins, "What do you guys have that would be useful in getting back at my sister Leni's boss for the stunt that she pulled during the fashion show yesterday?"

"My Lucario," Zack began, "In addition to confirming via her aura feeling-reading power that your sister's boss did in fact steal the dress she had made, also confirmed that there is some evidence that can be gathered to prove that your sister's boss stole the dress." With a casual roll of his shoulders, the male Fisher twin said, "All we have to do is ask your sister about one of her friends that she usually hangs out with."

With a mildly troubled sigh, Lincoln remarked, "Given that Leni is still upset with all that had happened, I don't think we can get much of anything out of her."

"Then maybe you know enough about your sister's friends to lead us to the one that we're looking for?" Ailor asked the white-haired boy, "Or maybe one of your other sisters knows how to lead us to our intended destination?"

Lincoln considered Ailor's questions a bit, thinking hard about the matter. After a few brief moments, the sole Loud boy said, "Lori is familiar enough with Leni's friends that she should be able to help you two find the friend of Leni's that you're looking for."

…

Lincoln and the Fisher twins found Lori in the Loud family's garage alone, punching a punching bag that had been set up. To Lincoln's piqued interest, a picture of Ms. Carmichael was taped over the spot that Lori was repeatedly punching. When Lincoln had called out to Lori, she took a break from her cathartic exercise to turn around. When she did, the oldest Loud sister saw that Lincoln, Ailor and Zack were standing there, and standing behind them were Ailor's Togekiss and Zack's Lucario.

"We need to ask you something," Zack said to Lori. After Lori had asked what this was about, the male Fisher twin turned to face his Lucario. "Alright, Leni," Zack said, "Show her the vision that took place at the mall that you showed me." With an affirmative growl, Leni the Lucario held her right paw up, aiming it at Lori.

The aura Pokémon's aura appendages on the back of her head glowed a light blue as they lifted up on their own. Suddenly, Lori's eyes glowed the same color, making her freak out as she saw a vision. The aura lifting the Lucario's aura appendages faded, allowing them to fall back down. Likewise, the glowing in Lori's eyes faded as well. "…The girl that you should have seen in the vision that my brother's Lucario showed you just now potentially has evidence that can be used to prove that Ms. Carmichael stole your sister's dress that she made," Ailor said to Lori, who still looked a bit rattled to have just had a vison shown before her eyes.

"…Yeah, I just saw Leni's friend Fiona just now for some reason," Lori remarked. Looking to Lincoln and the Fisher twins, Lori asked, "You're saying that Fiona may be able to help with bringing what Leni's boss did to light?"

"We need to know if you can help us find this Fiona person," Ailor remarked, "The sooner we get ahold of her, the better."

The oldest Loud sister, even though she still had no way of explaining what the male Fisher twin's Pokémon did just now, nodded in understanding. "I can drive you guys to Fiona's," Lori replied, "I had to go over there one time when Fiona was having a party, and Jackie got into a fight with another girl that had shown up. Leni needed to be taken home because when she tried to break up the fight, Jackie accidentally broke her nose."

Lincoln and the Fisher twins, who recalled their respective Pokémon that they had out, nodded in thanks as they followed Lori over to Vanzilla. After everyone got in, Lori stuck the keys in the ignition, turned Vanzilla on, and drove off to their destination.

* * *

Within a few minutes, Lincoln, Lori and the Fisher twins arrived at Fiona's house. Lincoln and the Fisher twins went up to the front door to knock; Lori hung back at Vanzilla, deciding to use the extra time to send texts to her Bobby Boo-Boo Bear. When Lincoln and his companions had reached the front door, it was Ailor who knocked a few times. After the three of them waited for a few moments, the front door opened, and it was Fiona herself that had answered the door. When she saw who it was that was visiting her, Fiona, although confused, was nonetheless happy to see her friend's younger brother.

"Hey, Lincoln," Fiona greeted, "What's up?" with a hint of concern in her tone and expression, Fiona added, "Is this about the bogus stunt that Ms. Carmichael pulled on Leni? It sucks that, even though I and the rest of my group of friends know that it was Leni who made that dress, we can't do anything to prove that Ms. Carmichael stole it and entered it as her own work."

"Actually, we can prove it," Zack replied, getting Fiona's attention, "Provided that you have your phone and haven't deleted any videos from it in a while."

Giving the male Fisher twin a curious look, Fiona asked, "Who are you and this girl that's with Lincoln? Also, what are you talking about?"

"It's," Lincoln remarked, "Actually a bit of a story."

…

A few minute later, after explanations were given and Fiona was introduced to some of the Pokémon (Chi-Chi and Myde) that the Fisher twins had with them, Fiona nodded in and understanding manner and pulled her smartphone out. "Pfft," Fiona scoffed in a mildly self-amused tone, "I never delete any of the video clips that I record on my smartphone. If I see that there isn't enough space, I simply move a few videos from my smartphone to my computer."

After going through a file of video clips, Fiona said, "Aha! This looks to be the one!" Fiona then showed Lincoln and the Fisher twins her smartphone as it played a clip; Lincoln recognized it as the scene from the mall a few days ago, when Leni, wearing the Infernape dress, showed it off to her friends and himself. When the clip ended, Fiona pointed to Zack and said, "So that monkey of yours is where Leni got the idea for that dress from. I have to say that my favorite part of that dress was the gloves Leni made to go with it. I would legit pay for a pair of gloves like that."

"I'm sure you and Leni can work something out," Lincoln remarked, "But that's beside the point." Turning to face the Fisher twins, the sole Loud boy asked, "So we have video proof that Leni wore the dress. How will we be able to use that to prove that Leni and Fiona's boss stole the dress from Leni?"

"The video clip that Fiona showed us," Zack began to explain, "As I was hoping it would, has a time stamp that includes a date. We just show the right people that video clip, and one, two, three, we get justice for your sister."

Nodding in agreement, Lincoln said, "Well alright! I'm ready to go when you guys are."

"Yo, let me tag along here," Fiona half said half asked, "I have literally nothing to do, and going to bust my boss's chops for stealing a dress that my friend made sounds like it'll be a blast."

"Well we'd be glad to have you along," Lincoln began, "But I'm not really sure if it's-" Lincoln was cut off when his phone went off. He got a text from Lori, saying that she has to go see Bobby for something, and that she'd be by to pick Lincoln and the Fisher twins up from Fiona's place sometime later. With a dry look on his face, Lincoln looked back up at Fiona as he put his phone back into his pocket. "…Can you drive?" the sole Loud boy asked.

Giving Lincoln and the Fisher twins a thumbs up, Fiona said, "Not only that, but wait until you see the car that my sixty-two-year-old grandaunt got for me!"

Lincoln, with a mildly confused look on his face, asked, "What are you talking about? What happened to that reddish number that you had?"

With an annoyed scoff, Fiona said, "It was stolen. I even saw the guy who stole it, too; he was somewhat short, had orange hair that stood up like broom bristles, he wore a headband of some kind, and he had various small yellow tattoos all over his face." Gently shaking her head, Fiona said, "But it doesn't matter. My new car is still pretty good on its own."

…

As it turned out, Fiona's new car was, of all things, a powder blue Prius. "This is one of the most fuel efficient vehicles that anyone at my school, students or otherwise, has," Fiona remarked as she gestured to her Prius. Opening the front door, Fiona said, "Well, what are you three waiting around for, an invitation? Hop in!" Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, Lincoln and the Fisher twins all got into Fiona's Prius. When everyone was inside, Fiona stuck the keys in the ignition and took off once her Prius's engines roared to life.

* * *

Lincoln, along with Fiona and the Fisher twins, arrived outside of Ms. Carmichael's house. The sole Loud boy took the initiative to contact some proper authorities, and as such, when his party arrived at the red-haired woman's home, two police officers, accompanied by one of the officials from the recent fashion show, were pulling up to the house at approximately the same time that Fiona's Prius pulled up.

When the parties from both cars got out, they met up with each other. "You must be Lincoln Loud's group," the first officer remarked to the group, "Seeing as how you guys came here in a powder blue Prius."

"Yeah, and I'm Lincoln," the white-haired boy said as he gestured to himself.

The two officers, as well as the fashion show official, nodded in understanding at the lot of both groups walked up to the front door of Ms. Carmichael's house. It was the second officer who gave the door a knock. As he was knocking, Ailor said to everyone, "My brother and I will go around the back, so as to cut off any attempt on Ms. Carmichael's part to escape." Zack only nodded once to show that he was on board with his older twin sister's plan.

"I feel hesitant to send a pair of civilians," the first officer remarked, "Both of which are minors at that, to do a job like this." With a gentle shake of his head, the first officer continued, "But seeing as how the two of you are so willing to volunteer to do this, then that must be a sign that the both of you are good in a pinch. And seeing as how both Reagan and I are the only officers here, we can use all the help we can get." The second officer, apparently named Reagan, nodded in agreement with his fellow officer.

With that cue, the Fisher twins proceeded to sneak to around the back of Ms. Carmichael's house, so as to lay in wait in case the red-haired woman tries to flee out the back to avoid being brought in. After the Fisher twins were out of sight, the front door opened. Ms. Carmichael, looking as calm and casual as if she didn't think anything was amiss, had answered the door, but she was rather surprised to see who her guests were, even identifying a few of them. "Fiona, why are you here with these police officers?" the red-haired woman asked, her tone a mix of curiosity and suspicion. Spotting Lincoln, Ms. Carmichael continued as she focused back onto Fiona, "And furthermore, why do you have this boy here with you? I know he's the younger brother of either Miguel or-"

"Leni," Lincoln interrupted, cutting Ms. Carmichael off midsentence. Giving her a serious look, the sole Loud boy continued, "I'm Leni's younger brother. And I know full well what you did."

Ms. Carmichael let out a bit of an amused chuckle. "Well aren't you amusing," the red-haired woman said, "Acting like a suspicious detective and what not. And here I thought that you had learned your lesson from the last time."

"Actually, ma'am," the fashion show official said, getting Ms. Carmichael to turn and focus on him, "We have enough evidence to confirm that you had stolen someone else's creative work at the fashion show and submitted it as your own. That being said, the panel has decided to rescind your win. We're also going to have to revoke the awards you won, and I'm pretty sure any and every person who got in contact with you looking to hire your for skill that you never truly had will be wanting to revoke any work with you."

"You…" Ms. Carmichael said in a rattled tone, her eyes widening in shock as she took a step back, "…You cannot be serious!"

Stepping forward, the first officer remarked, "Not only is all of that true, but we have enough to arrest you on various-"

"NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ms. Carmichael screamed at the top of her lungs, startling Lincoln, Fiona, the fashion show official and both officers, cutting the first officer off in the process. "Do you incompetent Neanderthals have any idea how long I have been stuck in this backwater hick town? Winning that fashion show, getting all the deals that came with winning it, was my one and only chance to get out of here! To make a name for myself! Why wouldn't I do whatever I could in order to achieve that end?"

The group was stunned momentarily by Ms. Carmichael's outrage, long enough for the red-haired woman to not only see that she had stunned her would-be apprehenders, but to seize the opportunity to turn around and run through her house, intending to flee out the back. The group, once they came to their senses, proceeded to go about stopping Ms. Carmichael from getting away; this consisted of the two officers rushing into the house directly after their target, and Fiona, with a little help from Lincoln, going over all the windows on the house that did not have a way directly into the backyard.

…

Ms. Carmichael was not going to allow herself to be caught like this, allow her life to be ruined like this. It was bad enough for her to waste most of her good years in a place like Royal Woods, with her only claim to anything decent being the manager of a clothing store in the mall, staffed by a stereotypical teenage boy and two stereotypical teenage girls. Now, not only was her one and only chance to get away from this hellhole being revoked, but she was going to be arrested and thrown into jail for who knows how long?

Fuck. That.

Sliding, practically throwing, the sliding glass door that led into her backyard open, the red-haired woman tried to run out of the house. However, she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw not one, but _two_ gigantic draconic creatures in her backyard, seemingly waiting for her to show up. Upon noticing Ms. Carmichael, the two monsters both roared challengingly at her, effectively telling her in no uncertain terms that she would be apprehended.

The first monster was a four-legged beast that resembled a sauropod. It had dark bluish skin, there were grayish metal facets all over its body, which included a chest plate embedded with a large diamond in the middle. There was some fin-like protrusion coming out of its back, a crest on its head that looked reminiscent of some dinosaurs, two horns on its head, fang-like horns around its mouth, and there were some spikes coming out the back of its neck. Three claws were on each of its feet, and they looked similarly metallic to the aforementioned chest plate.

The second monster stood on two legs as opposed to four, and it resembled a theropod-like creature to some extent. It was very light purple, practically to the point of being pink. There were round circular plates, with purple stripes, on both of its shoulders, each embedded with a single large pink pearl. Its forearms had gauntlet-like coverings on both of them, with purple bands around each wrist. It had a long neck that had a crest on top of its head, with the crest trailing down its back to wings that it had. It also had two horn-like tusks, one on each side of its jaw, and a very powerful-looking tail.

Ms. Carmichael could not for the life of her even begin to comprehend the epic beasts that stood before her. However, Ms. Carmichael did have enough wherewithal to notice that the young teen boy who owned that bipedal canine creature stood next to the two-legged behemoth, and that a blonde girl who looked to be of similar age to the young teen boy stood next to the four-legged behemoth. "W-W-What are you two kids doing here?" the red-haired woman was barely able to stammer out. Pointing to the two large monsters, Ms. Carmichael said, "Those things-"

"Work for my brother and I," Ailor interrupted as she stood up from leaning her back against her Dialga's right front leg. Stepping forward one step, the female Fisher twin continued, "And both my brother and I would appreciate it if you were not to refer to my Dialga and his Palkia as mere 'things'." Gently shaking her head, Ailor said, "Dyllen is so far beyond what you can even begin to comprehend. But then again, that comes with Dyllen being _frigg'in_ _Dialga_."

"T-T-They…" Ms. Carmichael said in a tone of subdued shock as she fell to (just) her knees, looking up at the two deity Pokémon, "…They work for you kids."

Walking forward a few steps away from where his Palkia stood, Zack said, "It's not the exact wording that I would use, but it does carry the spirit of what Ailor is trying to explain to you across." Jerking a thumb over his back to point out his Palkia, the male Fisher twin continued as he faced the red-haired woman, "Anyway, Tsukune here has my permission to warp the fabric of space around you should you so much as even try to escape."

"Dyllen will likewise throw in warping the fabric of time around you," Ailor informed the red-haired woman. When both young teens were finished, their respective legendary dragons roared threateningly at Ms. Carmichael, indicating that they would take action the instant they see her try so much as move to escape. Still on her knees, she fell over so that her palms slammed onto the ground, making it so that she was now on both her hands and her knees. Ms. Carmichael looked down at the ground, all her hope having been torn beyond asunder.

The two police officers, who ran into the house to straight go after Ms. Carmichael, found their quarry on her hands and knees, kneeling as if she were surrendering to a truly insurmountable power. Looking over and up, the two officers wend wide-eyed when the two of them spotted both Dialga and Palkia just standing there.

The two officers, noticing the Fisher twins and getting the idea that the monsters were basically taking orders from the two young teens, moved to arrest Ms. Carmichael. As the officers did this, Lincoln, Fiona and the fashion show official came around to the backyard via a gate, as they all wanted to see what was going on. The three of them all let out yelps of surprise upon seeing the two gigantic dragon deities. Hearing the yelps made both Ailor and Zack turn to face Lincoln and the others.

With an amused smirk, Ailor jerked a thumb over her back to point at her Dialga. "Yeah, this is why my brother and I thought Dyllen and Tsukune would be too big to fit in your backyard, little dude," the female Fisher twin said to Lincoln, "Oh, this is the first time the two of you are seeing each other. Dyllen, say hello to Lincoln." The legendary dragon deity of time let out a mighty roar that, after some consideration on the white-haired boy's part, sounded as if the dragon were actually trying to say hello. Zack's Palkia, Tsukune, let out a similar roar at Zack's prompting.

The sole Loud boy looked up at the deities, stunned beyond words that such beings even existed. He knew that none of his sisters wouldn't believe him unless they saw things for themselves, which is probably why Fiona decided to take her smartphone out and record a short video clip of the two legendary Pokémon. Although filming a short video clip like that in very close proximity to two police officers making an arrest usually isn't allowed, the two officers themselves were too busy doing their job to even notice.

* * *

The following morning, Lincoln and his sisters were eating breakfast when they heard their front door open. A few seconds later, Ailor and Zack walked in. "Sorry if we're late," Ailor greeted, "But Zack and I had just gotten back from a quick contact with Professor Magnolia."

"I think I heard Leni mention that once," Lincoln remarked. Turning to see Leni, Lincoln saw her nod a few times in the affirmative.

"My sister and I were hired by Professor Magnolia to help her with her research into a phenomena that occurs in her home region," Zack explained to the Loud siblings, "And as such, the two of us have gone over many things with her."

With an amused smirk, Ailor continued, "Zack and I even visited Professor Magnolia's home region a few times during our ongoing tenure in assisting her with her research." Taking a pokéball off of her belt, the female Fisher twin expanded it before tossing it up while saying, "Come on out, Bilbo!"

Sighing in a tone that was a mix of mildly resigned and mildly annoyed, Zack took a pokéball off of his belt and expanded it before tossing it up. "I suppose you better come out to say hello as well, Sir Raven," the male Fisher twin more or less droned in an unamused monotone voice. The two pokéballs that were tossed up burst open, calling out the Pokémon that respectively waited in both of them.

What came out of the pokéball that Ailor tossed up was a Pokémon that basically resembled a corgi dog with light brownish-tannish fur. It had a yellow tail that resembled a little lightning bolt, a yellow ring of fluff around its neck, white fur on its paws, chest, underside and most of its face, save for brownish-tannish over the area of its eyes leading up to its ears, which were yellow on the insides. Speaking of yellow, both its nose and eyes were yellow as well.

What came out of the pokéball that Zack tossed up was a Pokémon that towered over not just its own trainer, but its trainer's sister, all of the Loud siblings, and the Loud parents as well (if either of them were here). This Pokémon resembled a large raven that was armored, with said armor being a dark bluish-black in color. The lower portion of its beak, as well as its shins and feet, were straight up pitch-black. It had a ruffle of feathers over its chest, and all of its talons looked like claw rings. As for its eyes, black with red irises and small white pupils.

Ailor, once again smirking in an amused manner, said to the Loud siblings as she gestured to her newly shown-off Pokémon, "This lil' guy here is Bilbo, my Yamper. His species can be found over in Professor Magnolia's home region of Galar."

"And this is Sir Raven, my Corviknight," Zack said as he gestured to his newly shown-off Pokémon, "His species is also found in Galar, same as Yamper." The Loud siblings were all drawn to the new Pokémon shown off by the Fisher twins. Most of the girls, specifically Lola, Lori, Leni and Luan were cooing over the adorableness that was Bilbo the Yamper, although Lucy thought that Sir Raven the Corviknight was rather cool. Luna and Lynn, to a somewhat lesser extent, were similarly drawn to the seven-foot-tall bird Pokémon, as they both thought that he looked 'pretty metal', as Luna put it.

After a few minutes, Ailor and Zack recalled their respective Galarian Pokémon. "Due to the work that Ailor and I have to do for Professor Magnolia," Zack began to say to the Loud siblings, "The both of us will be forced to miss the wedding of Mr. Fudo and his fiancé Ms. Izinski. It's quite a shame, too. I was rather looking forward to it." After the male Fisher twin had finished what he was saying, Luna smacked herself in the forehead.

"Dude!" Luna exclaimed suddenly, "That's what I had been forgetting! One of Crow's roommates is getting married soon!"

"Eeeeee!" Leni squealed in excitement, "A wedding!"

Nodding in agreement, Luna said, "Yeah, it's pretty exciting. Also, I'm going to have to recheck with Crow again, but I'm pretty sure he said that all of us are invited." This statement from their musically-inclined sister made all of the other Loud girls cheer. Even Lincoln was a bit elated to hear that he was (potentially) invited to a wedding.

The Fisher twin waited until the Loud sisters had calmed down before either of them would try to speak up. It was Ailor who took the initiative. "Aside from all of that business," the female Fisher twin said, "Zack and I just wanted to stop by and say thanks for letting us crash here while we took care of our business here in Royal Woods. All of our work here, as well as the extra work that we ended up getting roped into, is all taken care of, so the two of us ought to be going back home now."

Zack only gave a nod of acknowledgement to the Loud siblings as his farewell. Once they had said their good-byes, the Fisher twins took off, leaving the Loud siblings be. After Ailor and Zack closed the door behind them, the Loud siblings all went back to sitting at the table, so as to finish eating their breakfast.

"Hey Leni," Lynn began, "I heard that your boss not only lost her job managing the store you work at, but that she was arrested as well."

"I know that what Ms. Carmichael did was, like, totes mean," Leni began, "But she didn't deserve to, like, be arrested for it."

Raising a hand up a bit to get everyone's attention, Lori said, "Uhh, Leni, when the police did some digging into Ms. Carmichael's background and history, they literally discovered that she had done a LOT more than stealing your property, submitting it as her own work, and then trying to escape from them which is technically considered a form of resisting arrest." With a gentle shake of her head, the oldest Loud sibling said, "I have no idea at this point how long your boss will be going away for."

With a resigned sigh, Leni said, "That's, like, totes sad to hear. I trusted her, you know?" Seeing their ditzy, fashionable sister down in the dumps, some of the Loud sisters did a group hug with Leni in the middle. Even Lincoln joined in on the group hug, not liking to see Leni so down in the dumps. Leni knew, even with all of this emotional support that her siblings were showing her, would not be enough for her to get the wind back into her sails.

…But it was, like, totes a great start.

* * *

The following morning, Lincoln was sitting in the living room, watching the TV with Lola, Lana, Lucy and Lisa. They heard the door open during commercial break; turning their attention to the front door, the lot of them saw their older sister Leni walk into the house. The fashionable Loud sister was still a bit depressed due to everything that had happened concerning her (now former) boss at Reiningan's, but she was clearly on the mend.

"Hey Linky," Leni called, "Can I, like, talk to you privately for a bit?" Curious, Lincoln got up from where he sat on the sofa in between Lola and Lana, then proceeded to follow Leni into the kitchen, where they would for the most part be able to have their oncoming conversation with minimal interruption. The ditzy Loud sister took a breath to steady her nerves before looking to her younger brother. "Linky," Leni said, "I just wanted to say thanks."

Lincoln, with a curious look on his face, looked up at his fashionable older sister. "Thanks?" the sole Loud boy repeated, his tone sounding mildly confused, "For what?"

"For how you helped Fiona and those two fourteen-year-olds that live next-door to Luna's friend in California yesterday," Leni explained, "Fiona said that you played a big role in helping to bring Ms. Carmichael to justice for stealing my dress at the fashion show."

Lincoln knew now what Leni was talking about. He nodded once in understanding before he looked back up at Leni. "Yeah, it just didn't sit right with me what your boss did to you," the white-haired boy remarked, "I just hope that she'll learn her lesson and never do anything like the stunt she had pulled again."

Leni nodded a few times in understanding before she knelt down slightly to be more at level with her younger brother. The fashionable Loud sister wrapped her arms around Lincoln, drawing him into an appreciative hug. "…Linky," Leni began, her tone soft as tears slowly began to fall down the sides of her face, "You're, like, totes too good to me. To all of us. I have no idea what any of us did to get a brother as sweet and dedicated to being nice to us as you."

The sole Loud boy had no idea what to say. He was touched by how much Leni made it clear she liked having him around. Instead, he merely proceeded to return the hug. "…You know, Leni," Lincoln began, "Your friend Fiona said that she'd like a pair of gloves just like the pair that you made to go along with that dress you made."

"I just got back from giving Fiona a pair of gloves just like those," Leni replied.

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Author's notes:

I originally had something more epic in regards to Ms. Carmichael's attempt to escape, but after going over it, I decided that it was far too outlandish, extreme and out of nowhere, so I decided to go for what was shown here instead. But other than that, I think that I can bring Leni's time with Lincoln to a close. Things that popped up here will be playing various roles in later chapters down the line; I do not do things without reason.

But enough of that. Anyway, there are still three chapters left, and if I recall correctly, a certain baby sister has yet to have her personal time with her big brother. There is also a really big event happening during those three chapter, and it will have _all_ of the Loud siblings, especially the four oldest, involved in some capacity. But first the baby of the bunch needs her time with 'Wincon', not to mention how a great deal of normalcy will be coming back. Then we can get to going over the thing I was talking about.

Next time: The Prom


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter twenty-five: The Prom part one- Daycare Dilemma

Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, woke up one well enough morning, feeling like things were going to be normal for a change. Stretching a bit as he got out of bed, the sole Loud boy felt a slight twinge in his left leg, serving as a constant reminded of the horror that he had gone through all those months ago. The twinge of pain ended up fading quickly enough, but Lincoln still couldn't help but feel that the injury was leaving him as something of a burden to his family.

Walking out of his bedroom and closing the door behind him, Lincoln turned to walk to the stairs to go to the ground floor. However, when Lincoln passed by the open door of Lisa and Lily's bedroom, he heard his four-year-old sister call out, "Ah, Lincoln! Can I get your assistance on a matter, please?" Curious, Lincoln turned back and went into Lisa and Lily's room. When he did, he noticed two things; one, Lisa's hands were covered in some manner of liquid, and two, a very powerful odor was coming from Lily, who was whining in discomfort.

Lisa, with a somewhat embarrassed look on her face, said, "I don't suppose you can be troubled to change Lily's diaper, could you? I would do so myself, but I need to clean my hands of this experimental formula before I can do anything else."

Lincoln, with a bit of amusement in his expression over how Lisa was being bashful, nodded in agreement as he walked over to Lily, picked her up, brought her over to the changing station, and proceeded to take care of some…less than pleasant business. Once everything was cleaned up and taken care of, Lincoln turned to face Lisa, who at that moment had just returned from the bathroom to wash her hands. "Hey Lisa," Lincoln began, "What exactly was that stuff that you had on your hands?"

"That's classified, I'm afraid," the brainy Loud sister replied in her usual dry monotone, sounding like she would broker no argument. Looking to the floor and seeing Lily crawl up to the sole Loud boy to wrap her arms around his legs to hug him, Lisa could not help but let off a bit of a smirk. "Well, well, well," Lisa said to her older brother, "It seems that Lily wants to say thanks for cleaning her up."

"Yeah, it's no biggie, Lils," Lincoln replied as he reached down, picked Lily back up, and held her against his chest. It was clear by the baby Loud sister's giggling that she liked to be held by her big brother.

Seeing that Lincoln was also smiling a bit as he held Lily, Lisa said, "Say Lincoln, when I came out of the bathroom, I ran into our older sister unit Lori, who mentioned that there's an event of some sort going on over at Lily's day care today. Mom had apparently volunteered to be one of the chaperones for the event, but she was called into work today." Giving Lincoln a bit of a knowing look, the brainy loud sister continued, "I don't suppose you'd be willing to go to the event at Lily's daycare in mom's place, would you?"

"An event at Lily's daycare?" Lincoln repeated in a curious tone. After giving the notion a bit of thought, the white-haired boy gave a shrug. "Ehh, why not?" Lincoln replied, "It's not like I have anything else going on right now."

Nodding a few times, Lisa said, "Excellent. This will save our parental units a lot of trouble. You know how to get to Lily's daycare, right?"

"Yes, yes, I have the address," Lincoln replied, "Anyway, since I have a trip to make, I ought to get dressed properly. I'm pretty sure a baggy t-shirt and pair of sweatpants are not appropriate attire for events over at Shuttleworth Daycare Academy." Lisa nodded once in agreement with Lincoln's remark as he sat lily back down on the floor and turned to go back into his bedroom to get changed into a more appropriate outfit for going out for the day.

* * *

It still has yet to cease amazing Lincoln that not only were his parents able to get Lily _into_ Shuttleworth Daycare Academy, but that his baby sister was still _going there_, if only because the place looked like it charged an arm and a leg for its monthly fee. But then again, since Lincoln's mom Rita said that she was on the waiting list to get a kid in since she was pregnant with Lori (and that was just a little over _eighteen years ago_), the sole Loud boy could see why the daycare was so extravagant.

…He also gave a thought as to whether or not a daycare actually _needed_ such extravagance in the first place. But that was another topic to be discussed for another time.

Lincoln walked into the main reception area of Shuttleworth Daycare Academy, pushing a stroller that Lily, wearing a full-body light purple onesie, was seated in. As Lincoln got close to the reception desk, he heard a woman's voice call out, "Oh, you're Lynn and Rita's son, aren't you?" Stopping in place, Lincoln turned to see a somewhat short, well-fed woman walk up to him. This woman was fair skinned and had brown hair, and she wore a pair of black-framed glasses, a pair of simple white pearl earrings, a yellow dress with short sleeves, a pair of black high-heeled shoes, and on her lips some red lipstick.

"Ah, you're Dr. Shuttleworth, right?" Lincoln replied as he accepted the handshake that the woman offered him when she got close enough.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Dr. Shuttleworth said, "I'm glad that you remember me. But then again, my name _is_ part of the daycare's name." The full-bodied woman let off a casual laugh, which was returned by Lincoln when he recognized that the doctor was simply trying to crack a joke. Gently shaking her head after she was done laughing, Dr. Shuttleworth remarked, "You know, your parents were really insistent on trying to get at least one of their kids into my daycare here for the past eighteen years. It makes me feel a little guilty that there wasn't all that much space until a spot was open for your sister Lily to take."

"Well my mom said that your daycare was the end all be all of daycares in Royal Woods," the sole Loud boy said.

Nodding once in agreement, Dr. Shuttleworth replied, "It still doesn't change how I left two good parents who only wanted the best for their children out in the cold for as long as they were." Arching a wry eyebrow in mild amusement, the doctor continued, "I was particularly guilty how there was no space for your parents to get a child of theirs into my daycare when I picked it up that you were born, Lincoln."

Mildly surprised that Dr. Shuttleworth was talking about him, Lincoln said, "My parents tried to get me into your daycare when I was a baby?"

"They were trying since your sister Lori was a baby," Dr. Shuttleworth pointed out, her dry tone mixed with wry expression showing that she was a bit amused at the sole Loud boy's surprise, "And I wish that they had succeeded in getting you in when you were a baby. At the time, your mother had given birth to six, but you were the only boy. That alone caught my interest, and said interest only grew when your mother gave birth to five more girls after she had you." Gesturing to Lincoln, the doctor said, "If I had known that you would end up being the only boy out of a total of eleven children, then I would have fought tooth and nail to make a spot available for you here in my daycare."

Lincoln was unsure of what to say to Dr. Shuttleworth holding such praise for him. At the very least, Lincoln was flattered that a child care professional held him in such regard. Crossing her arms over her chest, Dr. Shuttleworth added, "I also had an interest in getting one of the children of Ashe Ace and her late husband Shigure into my daycare here, but sadly, they didn't have any interest in enrolling any of their children here."

"You tried to get one of the Ace siblings enrolled here?" Lincoln asked.

Wincing a bit in embarrassment, Dr. Shuttleworth admitted, "Truth be told, it was mostly from a desire to ethnically diversify the number of children here. I was especially eyeing the Ace children who more prominently displayed the Asian half of their heritage." A hint of annoyance entering her expression, the doctor remarked, "It would have been nice to do something to stop accusations that I only accept Caucasian children…" Gently shaking her head, Dr. Shuttleworth said, "But that's in the past. Anyway, how's little Lily doing?"

Turning the stroller around slightly so that Dr. Shuttleworth could see Lily more directly, Lincoln replied, "Oh, she's doing as fine as ever. My mom expressed guilt over how she couldn't be here for the event herself. I bet that she was really looking forward to seeing whatever Lily was given to wear as a costume." The mention of her going to be put into a costume had caught Lily's attention; that was _not_ something that she was told about, nor was it something that she would look forward to.

Clapping her hands together, Dr. Shuttleworth said, "Oh yes, the little play that the children of the daycare here will be throwing on is going to be nothing short of adorable!" Gesturing for Lincoln to follow her, Dr. Shuttleworth continued, "If you'll follow me, I can take you to the room where I have the costumes the children will wear in the play. We can get Lily dressed up right away." Lincoln nodded in agreement as he proceeded to follow the doctor, pushing Lily's stroller along the way.

…Oh, Lily was _not_ going to like this.

* * *

Despite the fussiness that Lily displayed when Lincoln and Dr. Shuttleworth tried to get her into her costume for the play, the youngest Loud sister was slipped into her costume without too much trouble. And since it's been a while since Lily had anything to eat or drink, she couldn't get out of the costume via deliberately soiling herself and having the older people take the costume off for her.

Thus, we have Lily, in a turkey costume, sitting with a dry look of unamusement on her face as she waited for the play to begin, a play that would undoubtedly be mortifyingly embarrassing for her; if her big brother recorded her acting in this play, then Lily would have to grab ahold of said recording and destroy it. The baby Loud sister did it before with some of those video recordings Luan made of some of her pranks; Lily is not afraid to destroy recorded evidence again.

"Well this is just precious," Lincoln remarked aloud to himself as he saw Lily wearing her turkey costume. The sole Loud boy was able to sneak taking a picture of Lily in the turkey costume using his smartphone (it was a darn shame that Lily turned away when the photo was taken), but right after he took the picture of Lily and slipped his smartphone back into the front right pocket on his pants, the white-haired boy saw something that set off a few alarms in his head, something that prompted him to slip his smartphone back out and start up recording a quick video clip.

From the looks of it, it was the mother of one of the kids attending the daycare (Lincoln at least _assumed_ that the woman was a mother of one of the kids in the daycare). This woman was Caucasian, had straight, shoulder-length light brown hair, and she wore a baggy t-shirt that had the logo of a professional sports team on it, a baggy pair of jeans with torn knees, and a rather clunky-looking pair of sneakers. She also gave off an air of being either lower middle class or straight up lower class; either way, this woman didn't look like she could afford to have a kid of hers go to such a prestigious daycare such as Dr. Shuttleworth's.

Lincoln observed this woman walk over to a table that had a small yet very fine looking vase on it; this was in an area where no one was paying any attention, so she could get away with doing whatever. The woman then, discreetly yet deliberately, knocked the vase over, allowing it to fall to the floor and shatter into pieces. The sole Loud boy proceeded to make his way over to this woman, following her as he saw her walk away from the scene of the crime. By the time Lincoln was about halfway to reaching her, the woman had met up with Dr. Shuttleworth and began to talk to her, looking like she was reporting something to the good doctor.

By the time that Lincoln had reached the two women, he could hear the lower-income woman say, "…Just waddled away after she knocked that vase off of that table. Do you know who the parents of that kid in the turkey costume is? Because I'm pretty sure that you're going to want to charge them for their kid breaking that vase."

"Excuse me," Lincoln interrupted, getting both Dr. Shuttleworth and the lower-income woman to turn to face him. With both women focusing on him, the white-haired boy asked, "What exactly is going on here?"

"Oh, Lincoln," Dr. Shuttleworth began in a casually friendly tone. Gesturing to the woman, the good doctor continued, "This is Judy Wilde. She's been trying to get her son Nick into the daycare for a while now, using the sponsored path."

That was not something that Lincoln was familiar with, so he decided to dig further. "What do you mean by 'sponsored path'?" the sole Loud boy asked, arching an eyebrow in curiosity.

Gesturing to all around the area that she was in with Lincoln and Dr. Shuttleworth, Judy proceeded to explain, "You see all this here? This all is a symbol that shows how top tier this daycare is. Any parent would be lucky to get their kid into a place like this, especially since it would help pave the way for that kid to get into great schools and all that good stuff." Lowering her arms to her side, Judy continued with a hint of resentful annoyance in her tone, "However, all of this glitz and glamor is frigg'in expensive. There's no way that I'd be able to cover all of the fees out of pocket. Not in ten billion years."

"That's where the sponsored path comes in," Dr. Shuttleworth proceeded to explain to Lincoln, "It allows parents to get their children into my daycare without having to worry about those fees since the daycare itself will cover it. However, to qualify for this, the child that the parents wish to enroll via the sponsored path has to be exceptionally outstanding." Gesturing to Judy, the good doctor explained, "Judy's son Nick more than qualifies, as he clearly shows that he is a gifted boy that, if guided by my daycare, can reach levels of giftedness on par with that of your younger sister Lisa."

Now that was a surprise to Lincoln; a genius kid that could potentially reach Lisa-levels of intelligence and inventiveness? Now that was pretty damn amazing. Turning his attention to the good doctor, Lincoln asked while gesturing to Judy, "If Ms. Wilde's son is as smart as you say that he is, then how come he hasn't been enrolled in your daycare yet? I mean, if he has the makings of being a Lisa-level genius, I figured that you'd want him in here ASAP."

"Priority in enrollment to the daycare is given to children whose parents can afford to get them in the traditional way," Dr. Shuttleworth explained, the indifference in her tone suggesting that she's more into making money than helping those children who truly have the makings of being the next Nobel prize winner or otherwise changes the world at large for the better of humanity. That indifference in Dr. Shuttleworth's tone passed by Judy unnoticed, but the sole Loud boy not only noticed it, he made a mental side note of it.

Looking at both women equally, Lincoln proceeded to continue investigating Judy's suspicious actions, but he had a few more points that he wanted to cover before he got to the meat and potatoes of his inquiry. "…Are there any open spots available right now for Ms. Wilde's son at the daycare?" Lincoln asked, a hint of knowing suspicion in his tone that passed by both women unnoticed, "After all, it would be a terrible crime if potential and talent such as what her son has isn't allowed to flourish due to issues of money."

"Unfortunately, not at the moment, as we're at max capacity here," Dr. Shuttleworth explained. A hint of troubled concern entering her expression, the good doctor continued, "But if what Judy here tells me is true, then I may have to get in contact with your parents to discuss the possibility of removing your sister from the daycare."

"…" Giving Dr. Shuttleworth a curious look, Lincoln asked, "…Care to explain?"

Gesturing to Judy, Dr. Shuttleworth said, "Judy here told me that she saw one of the younger children here knock over a vase and waddle away. Judging by the description of the vase that Judy saw get broken, it was an antique vase valued at well over one-hundred thousand dollars. Judy also told me that the child who knocked it over was wearing a turkey costume for the play." Gesturing to Lincoln, Dr. Shuttleworth said, "Given that your sister is the only child here at the daycare wearing a turkey costume, there is no doubt that she's the one who broke that vase, and since I'm aware of your family's income level since your parents had to submit that info when they enrolled Lily, I highly doubt that your family can afford to pay for damages, leaving me no choice but to have Lily removed from Shuttleworth Daycare Academy."

Ah, so _that_'_s_ what was going on. The pieces were all falling into place for Lincoln; Judy had deliberately broke that vase and sub sequentially pinned it on Lily in the hopes that it would have gotten Lily in enough trouble to result in her removal from the daycare, thus creating an opening for Judy to get her son Nick in on the sponsored path. If this were allowed to occur, then all of the work that Lincoln's parents had done, over an eighteen some odd year period no less, so that they could get even one of the Loud siblings into Dr. Shuttleworth's daycare, will have been shot down and rendered moot. Luckily for the sole Loud boy, he has excellent instincts, which tipped him off that something was wrong when he saw Judy acting suspicious over at that table, thus allowing him to record that video on his smartphone of the lower-income woman being the true culprit behind that highly expensive vase being broken.

All that Lincoln had to do now was show that video clip he recorded to Dr. Shuttleworth and Lily is not only saved from being blamed for doing something that she didn't really do, but she'll also be saved from an undue punishment. However, right as Lincoln began to reach for his right front pocket to pull out his smartphone, he stopped and began to think about the other elements that were in play.

It was clear that Judy could only get her son into Dr. Shuttleworth's daycare by having him try to get in on the sponsored path, and even then the lower-income woman had to resort to framing a paid-for child and get said child removed from the daycare so that a spot was open for her son. And the sole Loud boy could tell that, even _if_ Lily was removed from the daycare and her spot was left open, Dr. Shuttleworth would sooner give the open spot to another child whose parents could afford to pay to get their child in, leaving Judy back at square one.

Another factor of Judy's clear inability to afford to pay to get her son into Dr. Shuttleworth's daycare is that if he were to expose the truth behind who really broke the vase, then not only is it certain that Judy would get in trouble, but she'd be sued/fined to the point that she would never get out of the debt. There's also the high possibility that the lower-income woman might also be arrested for damage of property (expensive property, at that). With all of this in mind, Lincoln could tell that, regardless of what he did, whatever choice he made, things would end badly for at least one of the involved parties.

Technically, the Louds _could_ afford to cover paying the costs for that vase being broken; Lincoln was told a while ago by his older sister Lynn of how she actually received half a million dollars for helping to catch and put away a few of the guys from the attack on Royal Woods Elementary School, the very attack that resulted in the severe condition of Lincoln's left leg. Lynn explained to Lincoln that she and their dad came up with the idea of telling the rest of the Loud kids that the sporty Loud sister had only received ten-thousand dollars as a reward since, given how much money has influence over the Loud siblings at large, it would be best to keep the truth a secret.

The white-haired boy found the logic sound, and promised Lynn that he would keep the secret and not tell anyone. All that being said, the Louds can straight up cover the cost of the broken vase from this vast pool of reward money that Lynn had netted, thus keeping Lily in the daycare and foiling Judy's plans without getting her into any matter of trouble. However, this plan would carve out a noticeably huge chunk of Lynn's reward money, a chunk that not only can't replenish itself so easily, but it would tip off the rest of the Loud siblings of how much money that their athletic sister really received from the police.

After realizing all of this, Lincoln saw that he only really had three viable options; expose Judy to Dr. Shuttleworth and keep Lily out of trouble but put the lower-income woman's livelihood at significant risk, let Lily take the blame and be removed from the daycare so her spot is open to Judy's son even though said spot would most likely be given to a kid whose parents can straight up pay to get them in passing up Judy's son in the process, or let Lily take the blame but the Louds will bite the bullet and cover the cost of the expensive vase out of Lynn's reward money thus keeping Judy out of trouble.

Looking up at both women, Lincoln asked, "…May I have a few minutes to get ahold of my parents and explain to them what happened?" Dr. Shuttleworth nodded in the affirmative, letting the white-haired boy go off somewhere private so he could contact his mom. The sole Loud boy was not looking forward to having to explain to him mom what's going on, what he saw and how he didn't see any option that would end everything all honkey-dory for all parties involved. He only hoped that she would understand how troubled he was.

* * *

Lincoln was _wrong_ about his mom.

Rita, after Lincoln had told her everything and explained to her all of the details, was particularly merciless towards Judy, instructing Lincoln to not only show the recorded video clip to Dr. Shuttleworth, but save it in case the video clip can be turned in as evidence in a court case. The Loud matriarch clearly sounded as if she wanted the lower-income woman to burn. Rita also asked Lincoln how he found out about how much money Lynn really got as a reward for helping to catch the guys who attacked RWES a while ago, sounding very much suspicious as she asked her son how he knew, but the Loud matriarch calmed down when Lincoln told her that Lynn herself told him about it.

Lincoln could have sworn that he also heard his mother mutter something about having a talk with Lynn later when she (Rita) got back from her surprise shift at the dentist office.

Lincoln told Rita, in a tone that sounded rather rattled due to having heard his mom sounding so merciless, assured her that he would show the video clip to Dr. Shuttleworth before ending the call and putting in another call to Lynn Sr., who should be over at 'Lynn's Table' right now. The white-haired boy told his dad and explained everything to him what he told and explained to the Loud matriarch during the previous phone call.

Unlike with Rita, Lynn Sr. agreed with and sympathized with Lincoln, telling him that he was right in how there was no truly right choice to make in the matter. However, just like it was with Rita, Lynn Sr. said that Lincoln should expose Judy, telling Lincoln to show that video clip that he recorded to Dr. Shuttleworth. The resigned tone of Lynn Sr.'s voice when he told Lincoln to expose Judy was a clear sign that such a decision weighed heavily on him. Lynn Sr. also said that he would come by the daycare to retrieve both Lincoln and Lily, saying that the both of them had too much of a day today and that they should rest at home for the rest of the day.

After his call with his dad ended, Lincoln slipped his smartphone back into his right front pocket on his pants and, with a heavy heart, returned to Judy and Dr. Shuttleworth and showed the video clip that he recorded. He then explained to Dr. Shuttleworth that his dad said he was coming to pick both him and Lily up for family reasons; when pressed, Lincoln lied and said that Lynn had broken her right leg and was taken to the hospital, and that the rest of the family had to go there to be there for Lynn. Given that Dr. Shuttleworth knew about the Loud siblings, she fell for the lie hook, line and sinker.

Lincoln, after he got Lily out of her turkey costume (something she was glad for) and put her in her stroller, proceeded to push the stroller out of the daycare so he can wait for Lynn Sr. to come and pick the both of them up. However, right as Lincoln and Lily exited the daycare building, they bumped into someone who was very much familiar to the both of them, as well as the rest of the Loud family as a whole; it was Crow Hogan, Luna's friend who lives out in California.

For some odd reason, Crow was wearing what was clearly a fake moustache, as it was big, bushy, in a handlebar shape, was black (thus mismatching Crow's hair) and there was still a price tag attached to it. "Lincoln, Lily!" Crow greeted when he saw the two Loud siblings, "Glad that I found the right place! Luna sent me here to try and pick you two up early, given that she, Lori, Leni and Luan have prom things to get ready for and they don't want to have to worry about any of you guys being out and whatnot."

Looking at the twenty-one-year-old Californian native with a confused look, Lincoln pointed at Crow's face while saying, "Uhh…"

Thinking for a moment, Crow suddenly realized what had confused the sole Loud boy. "Oops," Crow said as he reached to his moustache with his right hand, gently grabbing it with his right index finger and thumb and giving the moustache a pull, cleanly yanking it off and leaving his face free of fake facial hair, "Yeah, I forgot to remove my fake moustache after some…previous business...that I had to handle." Looking to Lincoln and Lily, the broom-headed Californian said, "So anyway, I'm here to help your high school-aged sisters with their prom thing." Jerking a thumb over his right shoulder, Crow continued, "Now let's bounce. I was able to ste-err-_borrow_ Yusei's Volkswagen van again, so we'll get back to chez Loud in next to flat."

"My dad is already coming to pick me and Lily up," Lincoln explained, a resigned look on his face and tone in his voice.

Catching the shift in Lincoln, Crow asked, "Yo lil' dude, what's wrong?"

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lincoln said, "Here's what happened. I took Lily to her daycare here, which is run by this renowned child expert named Dr. Shuttleworth, but-"

"Oh, that reminds me," Crow interrupted, "I actually need to…" Trailing off a bit, the twenty-one-year-old continued with a hint of knowing in his tone, "…Speak with Dr. Shuttleworth, as it were. I have some business with her." Pointing to Lincoln and Lily, Crow said to both of them, "You two wait here. I'll be back in a few minutes." Without even being able to get in another word, Lincoln watched as his older sister's friend from California strode past both him and Lily, walking right into Shuttleworth Daycare Academy.

Alone and with only his and Lily's dad coming to the daycare to pick the both of them up, the sole Loud boy could not help but wonder what sort of business Crow had with Dr. Shuttleworth. Lincoln could not help but also wonder how Crow got to Royal Woods without first getting lost in the nearby woods for three days, but that's another story for another time.

* * *

When Lynn Sr. arrived to pick Lincoln and Lily up, he saw that a few police cars were parked near the front of the daycare, with a vast crowd of parents in the parking lot, looking on as police arrested not Judy Wilde, but, to everyone's surprised shock, Dr. Shuttleworth herself.

Lincoln learned when he got home, via Luna who was chilling with Sam and Crow in the dining room, that Crow's quote unquote 'business' with Dr. Shuttleworth boiled down to airing some rather dirty laundry that the well-fed child expert had been hiding for quite some time. Some of said dirty laundry included various schemes to earn vast swaths of money, including fudging some numbers on insurance forms for things she had at the daycare; that vase that Judy broke in the hopes of framing Lily to get her out and get Judy's son Nick in not only was not insured, but was only worth about seven and a half dollars tops. And that's just _one_ example out of _many_.

The tldr here is that Judy didn't get into any sort of trouble after all, Dr. Shuttleworth ended up getting arrested on various charges, and the daycare was shut down mostly due to the shady business practices Dr. Shuttleworth had going, but a quick, skimming check into things revealed that there were a good number of building and health code violations. A proper investigation that will be held at a later date will reveal more.

"…Wow, that is literally a lot to take in," Lori said as she, as well as the rest of the Loud siblings, sat at the dining table, accompanied by Sam and Crow who sat on Luna's right and left sides respectively. Crow, with backup from Lincoln, had just finished telling the sisters all that had happened. Gently shaking her head, the oldest Loud sister said to Crow, "It was a good thing that you did what you did, when you did it."

"Well the hell kind of a dude would I be if I left the family of one of my friends out to dry?" Crow asked rhetorically, "But that all is another topic of business for another time." Looking to Lori, Leni, Luna and Luan specifically, the twenty-one-year-old Californian native said with a serious look on his face and a likewise hint in his tone, "The topic of business for this time is discussing the plans you girls have for the upcoming homecoming prom thing whatever at your high school."

The high school-aged Loud sisters all began to talk excitedly, as the biggest night of the school year was quickly coming up. "I'll be sticking around until the day after the thing or so, as not only do I have some local business here in Royal Woods to take care of," Crow explained, "But I also intend to help you girls with getting ready for your thing." With a self-amused smirk, Crow said, "Trust me when I say that you girls are going to have the greatest night of your lives."

Throwing her arm around Sam's shoulders, Luna remarked, "Well one thing's for certain. I already got myself the hottest date ever for homecoming night." This drew an amused giggle out of the girl with a streak of blue in her blonde hair. Luna's mentioning of going to the prom with Sam prompted Lori, Leni and Luan to switch to talking about their respective dates to prom, which meant Lori's boyfriend Bobby, Leni's boyfriend Aggro, and Luan's boyfriend Benny. As the four high school-aged Loud sisters talked excitedly about prom night (with some commentary from a similarly excited Sam), Crow turned to regard Lincoln.

Gesturing to the sole Loud boy, Crow said, "And I hope that I can count on your help in making the night for your sisters a night that they'll never forget."

Lincoln, with a curious and mildly confused look on his face, asked, "What do you need my help with, Mr. Hogan?"

"Please, call me Crow," the twenty-one-year-old replied with an amused chuckle, "And as for what I'll need your help with, you're going to be part of the concierge with me."

"…" With only confusion remaining in his expression, Lincoln said, "…Concierge?"

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Author's notes:

I wanted to try out a situation where Lincoln's choice to save one of his sisters from a situation where they are screwed over/embarrassed wasn't actually an easy one for him to make. Granted, he still made the choice to save Lily regardless, but I thought it would mix things up a bit if making that choice actually weighed on him. That choice still weighs on Lincoln, as it would've resulted in Judy's life being effectively ruined had it not been for Crow's airings of dirty laundry.

(Sorry if some of you don't like the cop out, but given where Judy's coming from, what she was trying to do so that her gifted son would be able to get the best, would _ANY_ of you be completely alright with the idea of seeing someone in her position being screwed over for life?)

Speaking of, Crow's return to Royal Woods, to this story, is something that is going to have some impact on the ultimate end goal that I have in mind as a whole. He and Lincoln have some important work to do for the next chapter and the one after, which make up the last two chapters of this story. It'll be a wild ride, mark my words, folks.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter twenty-six: The Prom part two- Getting ready for the biggest night of the school year

After an emotionally difficult choice that he almost had to face yesterday, Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, was a bit drained in spirits. However, he was recharged to a degree by the prospect of being able to assist in making the upcoming Homecoming Prom thing that his high school aged sisters a night that they will never forget. It was something that Lincoln, after the respective crap that Lori, Leni, Luna and Luan all had gone through over the events of the past few weeks, felt that the four oldest Loud sisters deserved.

And it wasn't Lincoln acting on his own, either; he was actually assisting Crow Hogan, a twenty-one-year-old California native who is close friends with Lincoln's sister Luna. The Californian, having come back to Royal Woods for 'business' that he was not being very clear about, said that he was going to need Lincoln's help in being part of the 'concierge' with him. The sole Loud boy had no idea that the broomheaded twenty-one-year-old was talking about, but he knew that Crow, being good friends with Luna, had no intention to do anything to screw the girls over.

As such, Lincoln was there in his family's dining room the morning after the fiasco at Lily's daycare, which was now shut down and out of business. The sole Loud boy was in the dining room with Crow, Lori, Leni, Luna and Luan, as well as Lori's friends Trixie Goldberg, Carol Pingrey and Carlota Casagrande, plus Sam Sharp, the girlfriend of Luna. Clapping her hands together, Carol said, "Alright, girls, not only do we have to get ready for the homecoming event tonight, but we have to put into motion our plan to get Lori here the homecoming queen win."

"Umm, I have a question, Carol," Leni began as she raised a hand, sounding a bit unsure as she was technically interrupting Carol, "Didn't you say that Aggro's sisters Allison and Amy were going to be here? Shouldn't we, like, wait for them to show-"

Leni was cut off by some knocking at the front door, which Lori dashed out to answer. A few seconds later, Lori walked back into the dining room, leading Allison and Amy Ace in with her. The two Ace sisters were clearly having some sort of discussion, with the female Ace twin being on the defensive end. "Well if the Christian hadn't tried to shove her religion down my throat," Allison began, "Then maybe I wouldn't have lost my temper!"

"Umm, what's going on, dudes?" Luna asked, eyeing Allison and Amy as they took some positions around the dining table along with everyone else in the dining room.

Sighing in a resigned tone, Amy explained, "Earlier today, Allison ran into a group of twenty high school students from a foreign high school that came here on some sort of international field trip. One of the students was trying to rile Allison up, but a second student stopped that first one and was able to get Allison to calm down somewhat." Letting out another resigned tone, Amy went on, "…Then a _third_ student from that group of twenty, a girl who just so happened to be a devout Christian, started to talk in a way that showed her devotion to her faith."

Gesturing to her older sister, Amy continued to explain, "From what I was able to gather, that Christian girl did far more to piss Allison off than the first student in the group did. In fact, it was that Christian girl unintentionally setting my sister here off that prompted Allison to go berserk and try to attack the Christian girl, but luckily for us all of the students ran away." Gently shaking her head, the fifteen-year-old Ace girl said, "We're very lucky that Allison had been let off with a warning by the police."

Clapping her hands together, Lori said to the Ace sisters in an attempt to change the subject, "Well girls, homecoming is tonight, and I'm hoping that you're ready to help everyone here to help me win Homecoming Queen."

"I'm afraid that I will not be able to come to Homecoming tonight," Amy explained in an apologetic tone, "I have to stay home to keep an eye on my younger siblings." Offering Lori a sympathetic smile, the fifteen-year-old Ace sister continued, "But I'll be rooting for you to get the win, if that helps."

"I completely understand, Amy," Lori replied, "After all, I've had to miss a few things over the years as I was needed to look after my younger siblings. It was mostly dates with my Boo Boo Bear, but the point remains the same." Turning to face Allison, the oldest Loud sister asked, "But I can still count on your help to get me the win at homecoming, right Allison?"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Allison gave her friend a reassuring, confident smile. "I'd like to see anyone try to stop you from becoming royalty, Lori," the female Ace twin remarked, then added with a hint of playful mischievousness, "I'm really looking forward to getting to refer to you as 'your highness'."

Lori, as well as some of the other girls, and even Lincoln and Crow, could not help but let out some chuckles at Allison's playful joke. "Well your help is literally appreciated, Allison," Lori replied, "I can just feel that tonight will finally be the night I win homecoming."

"And after we get you girls all back here," Crow said, "We get to have fun with the 'after party' that I have planned for all of you girls, as well as your dates to homecoming." Clapping his hands together to rub them together in a slightly mischievous manner, the twenty-one-year-old from California said, "I hope some of you girls are looking forward to some underage drinking, as it's something of a tradition after big events for high schoolers such as yourselves."

"If you got some of the lager that Luna's music tutor Mr. Fisher likes to drink, then count me in!" Sam remarked, "I've been wanting to try that stuff for a while now!"

Turning to face the Sharp girl, Crow gave her a thumbs-up while saying, "Yeah, I got a twelve-pack of Pape Konoha's Brand Lager in the Volkswagen. I also got a variety of other drinks, such as a few bottles of mead since I know Lori's Viking friend here likes that stuff, as well as two bottles of vodka, a bottle of rum, and even a bottle of sake. I also got sodas such as Moonberry Cola and Sunhoney Root Beer for those among you who don't want to drink alcohol."

"Woohoo!" Luna cheered as she pumped both of her fists into the air, "We're going to get hammered tonight!"

Clapping her hands together, Lori said, "Yes, yes. But that can wait until _after_ we all get back from Homecoming." With a bit of an amused smirk, Lori continued, "After all, what better of an excuse than me winning homecoming queen would we have to literally get a little sloshed?" The oldest Loud sister's confidence of winning tonight drew some cheers from everyone else that was in the dining room. Getting everyone to settle back down, Lori said, "Yes, I know I'm going to win it big tonight. But let's wait to celebrate until _after_ we get back. We still have a lot to do to get ready for tonight, such as trying on our dresses that we'll be wearing."

Sighing in a resigned, knowing tone, Allison grumbled, "Aye, I knew that this was coming, but I'm still not looking forward to being dolled up like a harlot."

"Oh come on, Allison," Trixie remarked, "You're going to love the dress that Carol, Carlota, Lori, Leni and I found for you." Allison raised her right index finger and looked like she was about to ask something, but as if she was anticipating what the female Ace twin was about to ask, Trixie said, "No, your dress is not going to include chain mail, pauldrons, bracers or any other kind of armor."

Snapping her fingers in a disappointed gesture, Allison said, "Dang it."

* * *

To the eagerness of the four oldest Loud sisters and the other girls in their group (Crow was busy at the moment, but he said he'd come by with Lincoln later), they had arrived at Royal Woods High School for the homecoming event. It was at the high school that Lori, Leni and Luan met up with their dates, those respectively being Bobby, Aggro and Benny (Sam, who is Luna's date, is one of the girls that arrived with the Loud sisters).

The three boys all looked amazing in their tuxes, with Bobby's and Aggro's both having a more relaxed, casual look that helped sell their coolness to Lori and Leni respectively; Benny looked the most wound up, as if he were afraid of looking too out of place for Luan. "Wow, Allison," Aggro remarked with a hint of sarcastic amusement in his tone as he addressed his older twin sister, "I'm not seeing your case that you carry your golf club in over your back. And what's this? Your outfit lacks any pieces of armor? Progress."

Grumbling in an annoyed tone, Allison, who wore a lovely sleeveless dress that was approximately the same shade of green as her regular shirt, said, "I'm not in all that much of a mood to be joked around with right now, brother. I'm still annoyed over what that Christian tried to do earlier."

"Yeah, Amy told me about how you almost went ballistic on a bunch of high schoolers visiting the United States on an international field trip from their school over in Japan because you were under the impression that one of them was trying to convert you to a different religion," the male Ace twin remarked as he crossed his arms over his chest, mild disappointment evident both in his expression and in his tone.

"Wait a minute," Leni said, her tone showing piqued interest as she turned to face her boyfriend, "Those kids were, like, Japanese?" After the male Ace twin nodded in the affirmative, Leni asked, "Aren't you and your siblings Japanese, Aggro?"

"Half-Japanese, technically," Aggro clarified, "Although I'm one of the few in my family who is fluent in the language that my late father spoke. Knowing how to speak Japanese helped me talk with the teacher responsible for the twenty students that are currently staying at Royal Woods Hotel. He's this somewhat tall fellow named Sekijiro Kan." Clapping his hands together, Aggro said, "But all of this kind of talk is bound to bring down the mood. We all came here to live it up, didn't we? I say we get right onto doing that."

"Eeeeee!" Leni squealed excitedly, hopping up and down a bit before going right over to Aggro and grabbing ahold of his right arm with both of hers, "I, like, totes can't wait to have the best night of my life!"

"It's a shame that Amy has to miss out on tonight," Sam remarked, "I mean, even if she wasn't coming here with a date and was only going to be here to help Luna's sister out, it still bites that she had to skip homecoming."

Patting her girlfriend on the back to get her attention, Luna planted a kiss on Sam's lips when she turned to face her. "Babe, there's no need to worry, brah," the musically inclined Loud sister said, "In fact, knowing Amy given that she likes to keep an eye on younger kids, she's probably liking that she has to babysit her younger siblings." Looking up into the sky, which was already a bit dark with the oncoming night, Luna said, "I bet that she's going to enjoy tonight, although it might be a bit on the boring side for her."

…

"Thank you for assisting in helping to capture the group of five thieves that broke into the Tetherby estate and ransacked one of Lord Tetherby's safes," a police officer said to Amy as the two of them, as well as a few other police officers, stood outside in a part of some neighborhood in Royal Woods. Nearby where the policeman was talking to Amy and getting a statement from her, there was a dark-colored van that was bent around a large tree, and all over the immediate area there was a lot of dirt, as well as some rocks, lying scattered. Two men that looked to be in their early to mid-forties were being loaded into ambulances, while three full body bags laid on the ground near a pair of police cruisers.

Sighing in a resigned tone, Amy said, "I'm still a bit worried about my younger siblings, as I had to leave them at home to come out here to help deal with the thieves."

Gesturing to Amy, the police officer said, "No need to worry about that. I had two of my men keep an eye on your younger siblings for you. You can't ask for better babysitters than a pair of police officers." Giving Amy a respectful salute, the police officer said, "The RWPD is in your debt. You're a real hero for helping to capture that group of thieves."

Leaning a bit on her staff, Amy let out a resigned sigh as she replied, "It's no problem, Chief Fisherson. I'm still a bit rattled about how three of the five thieves were shot and killed by the officers that I was backing up at the time, though." The police officer, revealed to be a chief ranked policeman named Fisherson, told Amy that an investigation was going to be launched to determine if the officers that shot and killed three of the five thieves were acting with due cause or not. He got a few more bits of info from Amy, then he arranged for transport to get her back home to the Ace family residence.

…

Nodding to herself in an assured manner, Luna said, "Yep. I'm sure that Amy won't be having any problems tonight, aside from possible boredom." To everyone else that was standing outside of Royal Woods High, the musically inclined Loud sister said, "Well anyway, what the hell are we all waiting for? Let's go inside and tear it up already!" This drew a few cheers from everyone in the group as they all collectively made their way inside, so that they could go to the gym for the homecoming event.

* * *

Homecoming was everything that the girls, Lori especially, could have hoped for. It was what one would expect from such an event at a high school, although Royal Woods High seemed to be trying to give their homecoming event a particularly extravagant flare. As Lori held Bobby as the two of them slowly swayed to the music that was currently playing, the pair of them was greeted by Carol, Trixie, Carlota and Allison.

Giving Lori a thumbs-up, Carol said, "Good news, Lori. The girls here and I just did some asking around, and not only are you in the running for homecoming queen, but you're one of the top contenders for it!" Not being able to help but let out a tiny excited squeal, Carol said, "It's looking like this year will be your year at last!"

"I literally hope so," Lori replied, her tone carrying thankfulness towards her friends, "Because this is my last year in high school." Letting out a wistful sigh, the oldest Loud sister continued, "It would literally make this the best year of my life if I graduated from high school on such a high note."

"Don't sweat it, Babe," Bobby said as he gave Lori's right bicep a pat with his left hand (he was still holding onto her as they slowly swayed to the currently playing music), "You're hands down the hottest girl here that's in the running. There's no way you won't take home the win." With a bit of a chuckle, the Hispanic young adult said, "I mean, who would even have a chance of being able to take your thunder from you?"

At Bobby's rhetorical question, Lori's friends all had looks that were a mix of mildly concerned and mildly worried; the exception was Allison, who seemed to have a mildly amused look on her face instead. "Umm, about that, cous," Carlota began, getting both Bobby and Lori to look at her, "Umm, the girls here and I, in our asking around, learned that there are only three other girls that are in the running for homecoming queen against Lori. They were all nominated by a fair portion of the students here, and those three girls aren't even aware that they're in the running."

Snickering a bit, Allison remarked, "The seamstress was really thrown for a loop when I told her that she was in the running against you. My brother was likewise shocked to hear that his date was thrown into the running."

"Wait a minute…" Lori began, a look of surprised confusion on her face, "…One of the girls that I'm running for homecoming queen against is _Leni_?"

Gesturing to Lori, Allison continued, "Aye, verily. The girls here and I also learned that the other two girls that were unknowingly thrown against you in the pursuit to become royalty tonight are the Musician and the Prankster."

At that reveal, Lori's jaw dropped as far as it would be able to realistically go. "…I'm also up against _Luna and Luan_?!" Roughly shaking her head to try and refocus herself, Lori said to her friends, "How did all three of my sisters that attend Royal Woods High get entered into the running for homecoming queen against me?! I mean, I can understand Leni since she's in the eleventh grade, but Luna and Luan are a sophomore and freshman respectively!"

"The new principal, in the interest of fairness to all grades," Trixie began to explain, "Decided to get rid of the requirement for girls wanting to run for homecoming queen to be in certain grades. She also did away with a lot of other similar restrictions for other events so that as many students as possible can have a shot in those events."

Carol looked the guiltiest over the news that had to be broken to Lori just now. Rubbing her right bicep with her left hand as she wore a regretful expression, the former homecoming queen said, "I'm sorry that you have to face such a trial in your last year here at Royal Woods High, Lori. I mean, this year is your last chance to win homecoming queen, and because of the new principal doing away with a lot of old rules and restrictions, you've been thrown into a four-way fight with all three of your sisters here to win homecoming."

"What I would like to know is who all would elect Leni, Luna and Luan and get them into the running for homecoming queen," Lori asked, "And while we're on the subject, who will be elected homecoming king?"

Gesturing to Lori, Carlota explained, "The girls and I learned that there isn't really a running for homecoming king. The people running the nominations and whatnot for homecoming queen said that the king will be whoever the winner of homecoming queen has for their date here."

With a mildly surprised and confused look on his face, Bobby said, "Wait, so does that mean that, in the event that Lori's sister Luna somehow wins, then Luna's girlfriend Sam will be the homecoming king?"

"Ha!" Allison laughed, "Now that will be an amusing sight to behold! King and queen both being women!"

"This is literally not helping," Lori moaned in an exasperated, mildly frustrated tone. Rubbing her temples with the tips of her index and middle fingers, the oldest Loud sister said, "Uhhg, I can't believe that this is happening."

Trying her best to cheer Lori up, Trixie said, "Don't worry, Lori. Your younger sisters were just nominated. The actual voting hasn't happened yet." Tapping her right fist into her left hand, the former rich girl continued, "There's still enough time to try and sell the idea of you winning tonight to everyone else here. Besides, I highly doubt that any of your sisters actually wants to win homecoming, especially since they all know how much it means to you."

Jerking a thumb at Trixie, Allison remarked, "Aye, she's got a point. In fact, when the girls here and I broke the news to the seamstress, she expressed total shock and alarm that so many people will have their eyes on her. I believe that she just wants to have a relatively relaxed time here at homecoming, trying to get as much one-on-one time with my brother as possible. Likewise, both the Musician and the Prankster expressed their desire to keep from taking your goal from you."

Letting out a mildly relieved sigh, Lori said, "Well, at least I don't have to worry about any of my sisters deliberately trying to beat me out for homecoming." Giving all of her friends a firm look, the oldest Loud sister continued, "But that still doesn't mean that enough people won't vote for any of them so that one of them wins homecoming." Gesturing to all of her friends, Lori said, "Come on, everyone! We have literally got to drum up support for me to win!"

The rest of the group all cheered in unison, eager to help their friend with her last chance to win the title of homecoming queen, as winning it would not only mean that she accomplished one of her dreams in high school, but it would guarantee that she would have the best possible end to her high school career. But with the slight wrench that was thrown into Lori's plans, she and her friends were going to have to work hard if the oldest Loud sister were to win homecoming.

"_I literally _HAVE _to win_," Lori thought, a hint of worry in the tone of her thoughts ash she and her group began to go about trying to convince enough people to vote for her, "_I cannot let my time here at Royal Woods High end on such a bad note_."

END, ONE REASON CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Author's notes:

I'm sorry if this is a bit of a short chapter, but there isn't really a whole lot left in One Reason. By the way, if any of you are curious about the subplot concerning Allison single-handedly sending an entire twenty-student class of foreign high schoolers from a Japanese high school to Royal Woods General, it actually relates to my MHA/BNHA story. Yes, that story crosses with the main Loud House fic setting I've created. A lot of my stories cross with each other.

Anyway, this chapter leaves off on Lori not only working for her last chance to win homecoming queen, but since the new principal removed grade restrictions for running for homecoming queen (in what she calls the interest of fairness), Lori is facing a four-way battle where her opponents just so happen to be her sisters that also attend Royal Woods High (Lori, Leni, Luna and Luan are the _only_ girls that are in the running, btw). I have already settled on which Loud sister will win homecoming, by the way. Now then, I'll be seeing all of you guys later, in the next/final chapter of this sequel to 'Ten Reasons'.

(Edit 11-19-2019: I changed a few bits of dialogue in this chapter, as well as some bits I'll be changing in ch27)


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

One reason

Chapter twenty-seven: The Prom part three- Saite, mawatte, otozureru toki wo

Lori Loud could not believe it. She literally could not believe it. This year was the oldest Loud sister's last chance to win homecoming queen; after this, there would be no other chance for her. When the people that were running the voting announced the winner, Lori was beyond shocked, beyond surprised by the results.

She actually _won_.

Lori found it virtually impossible to keep from crying out of sheer joy and happiness as the homecoming queen crown and sash was placed on her by the homecoming committee people that were running the voting for homecoming queen. There were countless pictures being taken by the other students attending homecoming as they saw their queen being crowned. Among those who watched as Lori finally achieve her long held dream were all of her friends, as well as her younger sisters Leni, Luna and Luan, plus the respective dates of those three sisters.

Bobby Santiago, Lori's longtime boyfriend, whooped and cheered as he raised both of his fists in the air, cheering for his longtime girlfriend as she was awarded what she had won, what she had sought after for so very long. After the oldest Loud sister was given her crown and sash, she would be expected to dance in the center of the gymnasium with her king. Since there wasn't an actual homecoming king being voted for, the committee said that the homecoming king would by default be whoever the girl that won homecoming queen had for her date to homecoming; because of this, Bobby ended up being the king.

A vast majority of the students at homecoming watched as their queen and king shared a slow dance in the middle of the gymnasium, applauding them all the while. Some of the students were dancing with each other, simply swaying side to side as they held their respective dates. All of Lori's friends, as well as her sisters and the respective dates of the sisters, watched as the oldest Loud sister was finally basking in the spotlight that had eluded her so for long.

Some of those who watched on in this regard, such as Luna, the Ace twins and Sam, even looked satisfied that Lori was the queen. Speaking of Luna, she, as well as Leni and Luan, was happy to see Lori had won homecoming queen. And since this was Lori's last year at Royal Woods High before she graduated, the three youngest high school-aged Loud sisters couldn't think of a better, more fitting end for their older sister's high school career. The girls, all three of them having also been thrown into the running for homecoming queen despite none of them actually wanting to take from Lori what she was wanting for so long, didn't mind that they lost. As a matter of fact, Luna personally never wants to win homecoming, as she feels that it's 'just not her style'.

…But this all is getting off subject. The point is that this homecoming was the best night to date that any of the four oldest Loud sisters, Lori especially so, could remember. However, what those girls, as well as their respective dates, had no idea about is that their night was only going to get even _more_ awesome.

* * *

"Whoa, Crow dude!" Luna exclaimed as she, her sisters and all of their respective dates to homecoming stood outside of the main building for Royal Woods High School. The teens and young adults all wore looks of surprise when Crow Hogan, Luna's friend who lives out in California, stood outside next to a long white limousine, dressed as a member of a concierge staff. Lincoln, the twelve-year-old brother of the Loud sisters, stood next to Crow, dressed up in a similar outfit.

Gesturing to the white limousine that he had with him and Lincoln, Crow said, "Well, Luna and company, what do you all of you guys think? Is this limo the best possible ride that any of you all could think of for homecoming or what?"

Lori, who was already a bit overwhelmed with the fact that she won homecoming, held her hands in front of her mouth as she began to tear up. "Oh…oh my god, Crow," the oldest Loud sister said, "You actually got a limousine. And you even dressed up as concierge in order to give it as authentic a look as possible."

"And Linky looks totes adorable in his little outfit, too!" Leni commented as she gushed over the concierge outfit that Lincoln wore.

"Your sister has a point, Lincoln-kun," Aggro remarked, a look of clear amusement on the male Ace twin's face as he saw his pupil in Kendo dressed up in such a manner.

Chuckling a bit in embarrassment, Lincoln said, "Well, four of my sisters were going to homecoming, with this being the last one Lori could go to before graduation." Shrugging a bit, the sole Loud boy continued, "I just wanted to do what I could to make things as memorable for them as possible, Aggro-sensei. The fact that I'm also making things memorable for you, Bobby, Sam and Benny is just a really nice bonus."

"He's my little brother now," Benny said to Luan as he pointed to Lincoln, "I want him as my little brother." Her boyfriend's remark made the comedic Loud sister giggle in a manner that was both cute and, for Luan at least, uncontrollable. The fact that Benny, who had been dating Luan for less time than Bobby was with Lori, Leni with Aggro and Luna with Sam, was so fond of his girlfriend's family was a clear sign that things were looking bright for the future between the two fourteen-year-olds.

Gesturing to the limousine that her Californian friend was able to attain, Luna said, "Hey Crow, dude, I'm just curious, but how in the hell were you able to get ahold of a limousine? Don't get me wrong, I think I speak for all of us when I say that this is totally sick, but I'm just curious as to how you managed to pull this one off."

"Oh, I have my ways, dude," Crow remarked in something of a smug tone as he rubbed the middle knuckles of the fingers on his right hand against his chest, "I have my ways."

…

(A FEW HOURS BEFORE CROW CAME TO RWHS WITH THE LIMO)

"Those blasted thieves!" Lord Tetherby swore angrily as he, accompanied by one of his butlers, stormed through the Tetherby estate. "I cannot believe they would have the audacity to empty out my safe!" the obese older businessman swore as he and the butler approached a door that led into the garage where Lord Tetherby kept his limo, "And they off with my family's heirloom amulet, no less!"

Throwing open the door, Tetherby said as he and his butler went into the garage, "Come along, Hobson! We've got to give chase and WHAT THE?!" The obese older businessman stopped in the middle of his enraged ranting when he, alongside Hobson the butler, saw that the long white limo that Tetherby kept was nowhere to be seen. In a panic, Tetherby, assisted by Hobson, took a hasty look around the garage. During the quick scan that lasted only a few seconds, Hobson found a hand-written note that was laying on the floor, kept in place by a wrench that would be used by someone doing mechanic work on the limo.

Hobson handed the note to Lord Tetherby, who snatched it quickly from the butler's hands so that he could read what it said;

_Dear old fat rich dude_,

_There were some ketchup_/_barbecue_/_grease_/_beer_/_love stains on a couple of the seats in the back of the limo_, _so I thought that I_'_d the liberty of taking the limo to get the stains cleaned for you_. _I_'_ll be bring the limo back eventually_, _I guess_. _I don_'_t know_.

_Yours truly_, _Young butler dude_

_P_._S_.: _I swear to drunk I_'_m not God_.

Tetherby, after reading the note that was obviously left by a person who very clearly actually stole his limo, felt faint and stumbled backwards a bit, only to be caught by Hobson who acted quickly to keep his master from falling over onto the floor and hitting his head. Acting as any good butler would, Hobson quickly took Lord Tetherby back inside.

…

"…Yeah," Crow said, "I have my ways." Gesturing to all of the teens and young adults who just had a blast at homecoming, the twenty-one-year-old Californian native said, "Well anyway, are you all ready for the conclusion to the best night ever?" The teens and young adults all cheered in unison as they all proceeded to load into Crow's limo that he acquired just to make this night as awesome for them as possible. Lori in particular felt that tonight was just the best, and nothing would be able to kill even one bit of the emotional high that she was on right now.

* * *

When Lincoln and Crow got the four oldest Loud sisters and their respective homecoming dates back to the Loud family's house, they spent the rest of the night partying, celebrating, among other things, the fact that Lori finally achieved her long held dream of winning homecoming queen. The girls, their dates, and even Lincoln, the sisters that don't attend RWHS (aside from Lily who was put to bed early as she's a baby) and Crow joined in on the revelry that lasted well into the wee hours of the morning after.

It was Lori who first woke up from all of the partying that took up the rest of the night slash very early hours of the morning. Walking around the living room, Lori's eyes soon fell to a clock on the wall, which gave the time as six-forty-four in the morning; she had finally won homecoming queen less than twelve hours ago. It still felt so surreal to the oldest Loud sister, as did seeing all of her siblings (aside from Lily who was in her crib up in her and Lisa's room), along with Crow, Bobby, Aggro, Sam and Benny all laying around the living room fast asleep.

…But still, Lori would not be able to deny that she was currently at the happiest that she had ever been at in her entire life. She had gone from an awkward, geeky-looking preteen girl from her early middle school days to one of the most beautiful women in Royal Woods, and there were so many people that she owed all of what she had been able to accomplish in her life to. There was, of course, her Boo Boo Bear Bobby on that list; there was also her various friends such as (former rival) Carol, Trixie and Allison, not to mention all of Lori's siblings and a fair portion of their friends.

Looking over to where a group consisting of Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola and Lisa were more or less thrown together, Lori's eyes lingered a bit as she watched her younger brother's sleeping form. Thinking about it, the oldest Loud sibling realized that out of everyone that she knew, her only brother is the one who she (arguably) owed the most to. Lori also reflected on the fact that Lincoln hadn't exactly gotten a fair deal for a lot of his life, with recent events over the last few months or so being the best example of that fact by far.

Lori, with a hint of determination on her face, decided that said fact about Lincoln ought to start changing soon. Feeling a bit like she wanted to do something nice, Lori decided to pick up a phone so she could call up a pizza place and order enough pizzas for everyone (the food they had last night was Chinese). As Lori went about ordering the food, both Bobby and Aggro woke from their slumber, getting up from where they had fallen asleep while sitting on the sofa and stretching.

Crow similarly woke up, right from where he fell asleep face-down on the floor in front of the TV stand while wearing only his underwear. Smiling a bit in amusement upon seeing the three men awaken, Lori said, "I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one awake anymore. Also Crow, can you put some pants on?" As Crow proceeded to track down wherever his pants had gone off to, Bobby and Aggro went up to Lori.

"Hey, Babe," the Hispanic young adult greeted, "Was last night a blast or what?"

Nodding in agreement, the oldest Loud sister replied, "I still can't believe that I finally won homecoming. It's like…" Gently shaking her head, Lori said, "…I literally cannot even think of the words to describe how I feel." Gesturing to her phone, Lori said, "By the way, I'm ordering pizzas for everyone." Turning to face Aggro, Lori asked, "Hey Aggro, you think you can call Allison and Amy and invite her over? They did both have a part in trying to help me win, even though Amy wasn't at homecoming last night."

Aggro agreed to try giving his sisters a call; likewise, Bobby said that he'd contact his cousin Carlota and Lori's friends that were at the event the previous night, as they all helped her finally achieve her long held goal. Lori could tell that, with all of the people that were going to be here, that the post-homecoming party was going to be a blast, or at the very least lively.

* * *

When all of the guests to the post-homecoming pizza party had arrived, a pizza man came by a few minutes later with multiple pizzas. As such, all of the Loud siblings, plus the three oldest Ace siblings, Bobby, Benny, Sam, Carlota, Trixie and Carol were all eating pizza for breakfast as they were all crowded in the Loud residence's dining room. "Wait a minute," Lori said as she was listening to Allison tell her a story, "Amy did _what_ while all of us were all at homecoming last night?!"

"She fought foul villains in glorious battle, even vanquishing three of them while taking the other two alive for the police to capture," Allison explained while gesturing to her fifteen-year-old sister. Crossing her arms over her chest, the female Ace twin said, "I still can't believe that while I was at homecoming, Amy was having one of the best possible nights ever!"

"I wouldn't exactly call fighting against a group of five thieves that were trying to make off with a haul that they got by raiding a safe belonging to an elderly rich businessman a 'best possible night ever'," Amy retorted with a hint of knowing dryness in her tone, "Also, I didn't 'vanquish' any of the thieves, the three thieves in question were 'vanquished' by the police officers I was backing up. We wanted to capture all of the thieves alive, but I guess that the officers had used a bit too much force on some of those men."

"Hey Lori," Lola said, getting Lori's attention. As the oldest Loud sister looked down at Lola and Lana, the latter of which was with her younger twin sister, Lola asked, "That word that Anna's older sisters here are saying, 'vanquish'. What does it mean?"

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lori said, "I'll tell you girls later." Lola seemed a bit annoyed that she wasn't getting a clear answer, but she was quickly calmed by Lana (who saw the annoyed look on her sister's face) who pointed out that there was still a good amount of pizza left. As the Loud twins went to get another pizza slice each, Lori and the two oldest Ace sisters were met up by Luna, Sam and Crow.

"Hey Lori," Luna began, "You, the rest of our siblings and I need to go over with mom and dad about how we're all going to go about doing the trip out to California so that we can attend the wedding for Crow's friend Yusei."

"Since the limo that I procured last night is actually mine to keep," Crow said, "I'm thinking of lending it to help whisk Yusei and Akiza off to their honeymoon. Limos aren't just convenient to make homecoming events magical nights, you know. They can also be used to make weddings one hell of a time as well."

Nodding in understanding, Lori said, "I actually talked about some of that with mom and dad a bit before we went to homecoming last night. Dad said that he literally has to stay here to keep an eye on his restaurant and to keep the pets from going wild due to none of us being around. However, mom said that she can come to the wedding."

"Well alright," Crow said as he clapped his hands together, "This wedding is going to be one hell of a blast for Yusei and Akiza!" Turning to face Luna, the twenty-one-year-old California native asked, "Yo Lunes, you think you and your band can provide the wedding music?"

"You know it, brah!" Luna replied as she, along with Sam, gave Crow a thumbs-up.

Since the subject of a wedding was brought up, a lot of the girls in the dining room, including Loud sisters and girls that weren't Louds, got excited and began talking about the wedding, even though only the Loud sisters themselves, and Sam since she was part of the band that would be at the wedding to perform the music, would be going. Only Allison (who had asked if there would be mead at the wedding) did not get excited over the upcoming wedding that's going to take place out in California (Allison's mood dropped a little bit when Crow informed her that there wouldn't be any mead).

As the girls talked excitedly about the wedding, Bobby nudged Benny's arm a bit with his elbow, getting the younger boy's attention. "…You know, little dude," the Hispanic young adult began in a sly and mischievous tone, "If you really want Lincoln to be your little bro, all you have to do is marry Luan."

Benny immediately blushed a very strong and vibrant shade of red, lighting up like a light out of sheer embarrassment. "Bobby!" the fourteen-year-old boy whined in an embarrassed tone. Benny's whining only served to make Bobby chuckle a bit in amusement; Aggro likewise found a bit of amusement in Bobby's mild teasing of the younger boy, but his chuckling was more brief and overall more respectful towards Benny than Bobby's chuckling was.

* * *

The following day, a number of suitcases and other packed bags could be seen in the back of Vanzilla before Rita closed the back door. The Loud matriarch stood outside in the driveway with all of her children and her husband Lynn Sr. "Are you sure you'll be okay here alone while the kids and I are in California attending the wedding for Luna's friend's roommate?" Rita asked in a mildly concerned tone.

Holding up a hand to cut off any further argument from his wife, Lynn Sr. calmly replied, "Not to worry, Rita, I'll be just fine holding down the fort."

"Eeeeeee!" Leni squealed excitedly as she hopped up and down a bit, "I can't believe that we're actually, like, going to California! And for a wedding, no less! This is totes exciting!"

"Leni, dude, the wedding is more of a moment for Crow's roommate," Luna remarked, "You gotta chillax a bit."

"You literally can't blame Leni for getting excited, Luna," Lori pointed out, "I mean, we're talking about a trip out to _California_ here. It's one of the best places to go to for vacation, seeing sights and shopping in the United States. And the city we're going to is San Francisco, no less."

Turning to face Lori, Lincoln said with a dry, knowing look on his face, "And let me guess, Lori. You want your wedding with Bobby one day in the future to be held in California."

Sighing wistfully, the oldest Loud sister replied, "That does sound like a dream, now that you mention it Lincoln."

"Well kids," Rita said as she clapped her hands to get everyone's attention, "We can continue all of this conversation while we're on the road to San Francisco. Say good-bye to your dad before we all leave, kids." The Loud siblings all said their good-byes to Lynn Sr. before they all loaded into Vanzilla, with Luna and Leni taking care to assist Lincoln, who is still suffering from his left leg's condition, into the van and into a seat.

It was actually the sweet spot that the sole Loud boy was seated in, as the girls wanted to make sure things were as comfortable for their brother as possible. After all, he had gone through a lot of hell over the events of the last few months or so, with the event that caused the previously mentioned damage to his left leg being among said events. Not only that, but despite his injury, Lincoln had gone above and beyond the call to try and make things for his sisters as great as he could, helping them out as they had helped him, with many of the girls being largely unaware of the roles that their only brother had in avenging wrongs that had been dealt to them.

The Loud siblings were, despite their typically chaotic and unstable cohesion, a close-knit group of sisters and a brother that would not suffer anyone pulling any sort of crap on each other. They care about and love each other, and woe betide anyone who would think to try and do any of them wrong, because if you scratch one of the Loud siblings, then there are going to be (at least) ten other people looking to scratch you back. The Louds are a family.

A family that none of them would trade for the world.

END, ONE REASON

Author's notes:

And there…we…go. After twenty-seven chapters divided up into nine separate arcs, I can now finally say that 'One reason' can be drawn to a close. Concerning the sub-plot about the whole homecoming event at RWHS, I thought it to be natural for Lori to be slated to win it from the get-go. What kind of monster would I be if I had Lori go to her last chance to win Homecoming queen, only to see her not only lose it, but lose it to one of her own sisters? A stupid one.

There are a few things that are going to go down in a number of my works, with my 'official LH fic canon' setting being one of those works. You saw that Rita and the Loud siblings were leaving Royal Woods to attend a wedding out in California, right? Well, you can actually see what goes down at that wedding by checking out the tenth chapter of my Yugioh 5Ds story; it's an actual thing, and you can see how things are for the Louds where things left off for them here.

It won't just be the people in my 5Ds story that the Louds are set to interact with; in the coming weeks and months, everyone's favorite white-haired boy from Michigan and his family will get to interact with a number of other characters from a variety of other settings. As a matter of fact, I have a story planned for my 'official LH fic canon' setting that is going to be taking place _immediately_ after the wedding in my 5Ds story. Seriously, the first chapter of this story will see Rita and her children drive back into their neighborhood, and right as they pull onto the street where their house is located, they'll see that they have a couple of…special guests from out of town. Keep an eye out for 'We must protect the Runestone!' in the days to come.

Now then, to address what I feel may be a point; some of you having questions about the idea that some of my LH stories are set in the same universe as some of my non-LH fics. I'm truly sorry if what I'm doing makes you object/feel uncomfortable, but this is actually something that I had in the works since well into the very early days of me writing fics that I put up here; it was something that I had planned well before I started hinting at it, so this was not something that I decided to do as a spur-of-the-moment decision.

…For those of you who _do_ like the idea of Lincoln and the gang getting to interact with the likes of Fairy Tail, Naruto, Rosario Vampire, Pokémon and various others, thanks for your support. It's going to be one hell of a wild ride that will see the characters of my works go beyond what many of you, and even myself to an extent, can even begin to imagine. If any of you have any ideas for someone that you'd like to see pop up in the explosively big shared universe that I'm going to be crafting over the coming weeks and months, let me know via comment or PM and I'll give it some consideration. Who knows? Your requested character may show up. I'll give a shout-out to the person who made said request if said appearance does happen, btw.

Thank you. I'll catch you all later.


End file.
